


May Day

by LittleMissSyreid



Series: Autumn Thorn [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel, Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-11
Updated: 2016-11-26
Packaged: 2018-07-23 01:01:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 28,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7460481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleMissSyreid/pseuds/LittleMissSyreid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Autumn Thorn returns alongside the Avengers. </p><p>When a leak threatens the security of Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Autumn Thorn is forced into an adventure that will shake everything she held close. Her sanity, her domestic life, and the love of her life:<br/>James Buchanan Barnes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

She had gone by many names throughout her life. When she was born, the birth certificate said Emma Jane Phelps. To her brother she was just Em. At her sister’s funeral, she was Miss Phelps.   
“I’m so sorry Miss Phelps.”   
“Miss Phelps, you have my sincerest condolences.”   
“Poor Miss Phelps.”

After joining SHIELD she was Agent Two-Nineteen – and then she became Regina Thorn.

Regina Thorn was feared by her enemies, respected by her colleagues, and proud of herself. STAR was the logical next step for her after conquering SHIELD. Her skills were unique and incredible, proving that she deserved more than she could achieve there, and nobody knew it better than Director Nick Fury.   
“We want you to join STAR.” He had said. “It’s a covert team comprised of talented agents like yourself. Everything you do will be classified and you will have to give up anything you haven’t already. That means no contact with your family or friends - for your own safety and theirs – and even your name must be sacrificed. There is no-one else I would rather have on the team. You have already proved you are qualified for the job.”  
“Yes, sir,” was her only response.

When SHIELD died, she carried out her last mission alone and rescued the ominous Winter Soldier, only to be captured herself. Torture and brainwashing made her The Asset. A ruthless killing machine of unstoppable force whose only weakness was the man she had saved an age ago. Then she was the woman with no name. Day by long and lonely day, she lived without memories, knowing little of what happened to her save for a metal hand and the feeling that she was being watched…

3 months later, Regina Thorn was revived – or rather a very bad imitation of her was. Thanks to Wanda Maximoff her memories were restored and she remembered everything. The pain, the loss, the love - _everything_. She was Thorn with extra baggage. A mosaic; a broken vase, reconstructed and at risk of breaking again. Regina Thorn was no longer one person. She was the product of many. She was multiple voices talking in one head until she could hear nothing else. It was almost too much to bear, and were it not for the Winter Soldier, she might not have done. Except he was no longer the Winter Soldier; he was James Barnes. He had changed too.

Now she is Autumn Thorn, an Avenger. An icon built on a foundation of hardships indescribable. Yet through it all – all the evil – somebody stood by her. One voice broke through the crowd: Bucky. James Barnes. The Winter Soldier. The man with just as many names as her.

* * *

 

The rain pounded against the canopy of the umbrella as the wind tried to pry it from her red and sodden fingers. Thorn’s footsteps splashed across the pavements, throwing up the contents of puddles along the way. The sky was dark with clouds but a single lamppost shone valiantly in the distance, highlighting the path ahead.

Thorn paused by the lamppost and began adjusting her long navy coat theatrically. At the same time, the men who had been following her for the last few metres paused too. The shadows of the night concealed their faces but there were at least two of them, possibly more, each dressed in definitely-not-following-you clothing. Black trilbies, black jackets, shiny black shoes, and other dark clothing. They were the epitome of suspicion.

With a smirk, Thorn pulled her umbrella down and began to collapse it. The men looked up, rainwater pouring from the rims of their hats and then turned to each other. Another minute passed before they made a move and started to approach, walking in terrifying unison with hands in pockets. By the time they reached her, the umbrella was securely fasted. Before they could speak, however, she turned on her heel and smiled prettily.

“Gentlemen, it’s been a pleasure.”

The lamppost shattered. Sparks flew in every direction and glass rained from above Thorn’s head; but she was already moving. Lurching forward, she thrust the length of the umbrella into the first man’s throat. Whilst he reeled backwards, gasping for air, Thorn spun around, unsheathing the umbrella’s handle to reveal an elegant and thin blade within. The canopy dropped to the ground as she plunged the rapier into the second man’s stomach.

Using his body as a shield, she approached the first man who had now recovered and was attempting to fire rounds at her in the darkened downpour.  As she had suspected, there were several other operatives who been hidden under the guise of night. They hurried forward to help only to collapse like dominoes. In the distance, the metallic glint of Bucky’s sniper rifle could be seen in the moonlight.

The shock of the attack left the first man panicking as he loaded another magazine into his gun. Removing her sword, Thorn let her bodyguard drop. She leapt forward. She swiped at the first man’s hand and he dropped his weapon. She slashed across his torso. He dropped to the ground with yell.

The backup continued to deplete but slower now as the surprise wore off. Thorn abandoned her blade and took cover behind the brick wall of a nearby front garden. She gripped her pistol tightly and psyched herself up before taking aim.

As if on cue, there came a rumble. It was quiet at first and, given the current climate, could have easily been mistaken for thunder were it not persistent and increasing in volume.

Steve’s bike turned the corner, tyres wavering precariously on the slippery tarmac, and barrelled towards the group of men. Its front light flickered beautifully against the torrents of rain, but didn’t fail to highlight his targets. He pulled the shield from his back and screeched to a halt.

Thorn covered him with a few shots as he made way towards the remaining targets but ultimately her job was done. A few minutes later and Cap had successfully neutralised every threat. The fight was over. The mission was done.

Over the course of a year, several ex-SHIELD operatives had gone missing, thought to be captured. A heist had been led on a building in downtown Manhattan where it was thought the victims were being held. It revealed the identity of the next target. Immediately after learning it, another plan was formulated to distract and destroy the group behind the abductions. The plan, though intricate, did not require the whole team of Avengers.

Tony Stark was a wealthy businessman and a genius of his time. He was only too happy to opt out of the mission and have the day to himself. The Vision, an android merged with Tony’s old computing system, also wished to stay behind, believing himself to be much better use by Mr Stark’s side, most likely as supervision. Vision was the closest thing to a conscience that Tony had after Bruce Banner disappeared… Vision was also spending time with Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch, whose company he was more than happy to have.

The Norse God, Thor, had returned to Asgard and Clint Barton, a highly skilled archer, was with his family for some time. Though others were available – including the assassin Natasha Romanoff - it was ultimately decided that only 3 people were needed. Having nothing better to do, Steve, Bucky, and Thorn volunteered.

After their success, Thorn abandoned her post and stepped out onto the street. Steve was checking the bodies that littered the pavement when he noticed her and stood.   
“You alright?” He asked, as she peeled her sodden hair from her face.   
“I’m just dandy, Cap.”  
“I meant, are you hurt?”   
“No. I’m good,” she smirked, “How’re you faring?”   
“Think I twisted my ankle at some point. But I’ll live.”

“Glad to hear it.” Another voice chimed. Thorn whirled around and saw Bucky emerging from the shadows. A sniper was hanging loosely from his shoulder.    
“I’d ask you if you’re hurt,” she said, “but I don’t think they could’ve got to you if they wanted to.” Bucky shrugged and she could practically hear the simper on his face.   
“Even if they had, I’d have given ‘em what for.”

Steve stood up and placed his shield onto his back.   
“I think we’re done here. I’ll contact the clean-up crew but we’re good to go.”   
“What about the debrief?” Steve placed his hands into his pockets and began to make his way down the street. Bucky and Thorn followed him.   
“I’ll handle that,” he said whilst walking. “You kids head on home.”

Bucky threw his arm around Steve’s neck and pulled his head down, using his other hand to ruffle his hair.   
“I’m only 5 years younger than you, punk.”   
“You’re a baby!” Steve laughed, pushing his friend away into the arms of Thorn, who promptly wrapped them around Bucky’s waist.   
“And I’m about 50 years younger than the pair of you. I win.” She chuckled. Bucky ruffled her hair too. It had finally grown long enough that she could wear it as a braid again, and the remnants of her time with HYDRA were visible only as a red tinge when the sun hit it right.

“You win…” Steve laughed, smiling at the sight of Bucky and Thorn in each other’s arms as they passed under a lamppost. Thorn removed her arms from his waist so they could walk more comfortably, and checked her watch at the same time. Her face dropped and she stopped walking. Bucky looked back at her.   
“Hey, you okay?”   
“James… we missed it.”   
“What do you mean we-” he paused and realization dawned upon his face. “Oh no. You don’t mean…”

“She’s going to kill us.”   
“If we hurry, she might not notice.” Bucky said, stepping towards her and taking her hand.   
“Of course she’ll notice! When doesn’t she notice?”

Thorn turned to Steve who was watching the encounter amusedly. His arms were folded and his gait was wide. He was the polar opposite of the alarm their body language conveyed.   
“Skedaddle.” Cap chuckled. “I’ve got to wait here for the clean-up crew anyway.” With an appreciative smile, Thorn began to hurry down the street with her hand in Bucky’s. They’d never run so fast in all their life.

The front door couldn’t open quick enough in either of their opinion. Even world-renowned super humans still fumbled with a key when they were anxious. Bucky finally got the door open and they stepped inside.

Their apartment was not huge but it was enough. A few desk lamps, which you had purposefully left on, bathed the floor in a warm orange light and the radio blasted out from the kitchen. The walls were beige and bare, save for a few photo frames holding polaroid pictures. A kitchen lay on the right and a couch to the left. There was a bedroom and bathroom down the hall – but neither of that was on the couple’s radar.

Upon entering the apartment, there was a wide open space between the kitchen and living area. A dog sat in the middle of that space with its back facing Bucky and Thorn. It was a mottled grey with a white chest and stomach, and snow-cone socks. But none of this could be seen presently as the dog simply refused to look at them.

“I told you we should’ve left food in the bowl,” Bucky whispered.   
“And I told you that she would’ve eaten it straight away and been hungry for more.”

The dog’s ears twitched but her head remained fixated, gaze never wavering.   
“She’s giving us the silent treatment.” Thorn mused, folding her arms. “Typical.”   
“I’ll get her some chow and then we’ll see how she feels about us.” Bucky chuckled, surpassing the dog and heading for the kitchen. Thorn turned and switched on the main lights before crouching down and calling to the dog.

“Pebble…” She cooed, clicking her fingers a couple of times. The dog’s head twitched but she still did not move. “Pebble, come on. Don’t be a tool.”   
“Are you seriously insulting our dog?” Bucky laughed.   
“Says the man who leaves the radio on when she’s home alone…”   
“It keeps her company!”

The minute that Bucky poured dog food into Pebble’s purple plastic dish, she suddenly felt inclined to stop ignoring the pairing of them. Whilst she munched away happily at her food, Bucky and Thorn collapsed onto the couch. Thorn pulled a blanket over the two of them and put the television onto a show she didn’t recognise. When Pebble finally finished eating, she jumped up onto the sofa and nuzzled herself between the two sleeping forms of her owners. She tried to ignore the sounds of Bucky’s snoring as she too fell into the blissful land of nod.

* * *

 

 _Bucky stared through the bars at the small ball of fluff on legs._  
“Absolutely not.” Thorn grumbled as Bucky waggled his fingers at the dog.   
“What’ve you got against dogs?” He chuckled, standing up and wiping his hands on his trousers. It was cute but it shed too much fur for his liking. He led Thorn to the next cage and crouched again to greet the puppy. 

_“I’ve got nothing against dogs.” Thorn said, rolling her eyes as Bucky patted the Chihuahua through the bars of its kennel. “But if I can dropkick it over a fence, it’s not a dog.” Bucky barked a laugh and stood up again. Too yappy, he thought as they left the Chihuahua behind and continued through the shelter._  
“Why are you drop-kicking dogs?”   
“I’m- I’m not. I just- If we get a dog, I don’t want it to be one that I can lose in the sock drawer, ya know? It needs to be something I can take for a walk and risk being dragged through the mud. Something I can hug with both my arms without it falling down my t-shirt. Something-”  
“You’ve made your point. We’ll look at bigger dogs.” Bucky said, putting his arm around Thorn and giving her a quick squeeze. It had been his idea to come looking for a pet but he also knew that she had wanted to stay in today. 

_They passed a couple more kennels until they found a dog that’s ears could be seen over the top of the barrier. The Golden Retriever looked calm and elegant as Bucky and Thorn approached. Thorn scratched its belly and it lay down to give her better access. Meanwhile Bucky examined the sheet of paper with the dog’s details on. ‘Luke’ was particularly friendly._

_They looked around a little longer until Bucky was distracted by a particularly friendly St Bernard. Thorn remained standing and sighed, looking around. As she did so, she noticed a pair of slobbering jaws that were protruding through bars on the other side of the corridor. Between them was a bone-shaped chew toy that was preventing the muzzle from drawing it back through the gap._

_With a bemused grin, Thorn approached and saw a mottled grey dog with ivory socks staring back at her. The dog growled as she approached, seemingly fearing that she would steal the toy, though it apparently hadn’t occurred to her that she couldn’t pull the toy inside whilst it was horizontal._

_Fiercer growling ensued as Thorn placed her fingers on the end of the sodden bone. She tugged and tugged but the dog wouldn’t release.  
“Drop it…” Thorn hissed, unable to wipe the smile from her mouth. “Drop it, dog.” _

_A combination of Thorn’s strength and the dog’s tedium pried the toy from the latter’s mouth. Once free, Thorn tossed it through the bars and the shadowy hound scampered away in pursuit of it. Laughing quietly, she stood up and wiped the saliva onto her trousers. It was going to be a pain to remove, she quickly realised._

_“Made a friend, have we?” Bucky chuckled as she stood to face him. He’d long since left the St Bernard._  
“Perhaps. I’m still browsing.” She shrugged. Bucky lifted a finger and directed it towards the kennel behind her.   
“You might be – but she isn’t.” 

_True to his word, the mottled dog had returned and was holding the chew toy in her mouth expectantly. Thorn picked up the information sheet that was hanging on the kennel door. The dog’s story was heart breaking. She was found tied up at a junkyard, living on rats that she had caught, after her owners had abandoned her there, tied up to a rusty old caravan. She was discovered by a policeman that was walking the area when he heard yelping._

_Thorn knelt down by the dog and attempted to reach for the toy again. Despite clearly wanting it to be thrown, Pebble refused to give up the bone._  
“You’re a tool, aren’t you?” Thorn chuckled, opting to scratch the dog’s ear instead of losing her hand to the animal. The dog chuffed indignantly at her statement.   
“Ah well,” Thorn sighed, “you’ll do.”


	2. Chapter 2

The air was warm with the breath of conversation, and gentle yellow lights swum betwixt it. Rosy oak tables dotted the room, accompanied by matching chairs and red upholstery. Most of the chairs were occupied. In fact, the diner was so awash with people that Steve and Bucky were able to sit in plain sight without fear of recognition.

The Avengers had become the focus of every media outlet and paparazzi as of late. The addition and replacement of various team members provided much material and mystery. Bucky and Thorn were of particular interest for the gossip magazines. Their relationship was – what the media called – hot stuff. Steve recognised that Bucky’s state of mind required some sense of normality, thus having time together with complete anonymity had become his top priority.

The waitress was dressed all in black, save for her red face, as she dropped the mugs onto the table and hurried away again. Bucky grimaced at the bitterness of his drink.   
“They put sugar in a little pot at the front,” Steve said with a smirk, watching as Bucky frowned and left the table.

When he returned (with about 42 sachets of sugar), Steve leant back in his seat and stretched.   
“I’m glad we get this time together.”  
“It’s nice.” Bucky nodded as he tore open sachet 1. “Having some sort of routine is… working. It, uh, it keeps my head steady, you know?”

“I can’t say that I do know.”   
“No… Of course not.”   
“I wish I could do more,” He sighed, but Bucky shook his head and smiled sadly.   
“It’s enough that you’re here. Talking it out helps more than you’d think. Emma and our little apartment is really ordinary – and I love it. Keeps me grounded, you know? I don’t have to remember what I was, or what I am now. I can just… be.”

“That actually makes sense,” Steve replied.   
“I hope so.”

Bucky smiled this time after he put the mug to his lips. Though he clearly thought the placement of the sugar was absurd, it was obviously well-needed.   
“How are things with Emma?” Steve asked, hoping the more cheerful topic would keep his friend in high spirits.

It seemed to work. Bucky grinned and bowed his head.   
“They’re good. Really good, actually.”

He placed his hand in his pocket and fished around for moment, giving Steve cause to look confused. Bucky hadn’t taken his jacket off when they’d come into the diner, which he’d initially thought odd. Underneath he was wearing a red cotton shirt and jeans. Nothing to be ashamed of. So, why keep it on?

Bucky slipped the small felt box onto the countertop and pushed it across with his index finger. He watched Steve tentatively lift the lid.   
“How did you-”  
“Scraped it together over a few months. I owe somebody a lot of money.”

Suddenly alarmed, Steve shut the box and leaned in.   
“Who did you borrow from, Bucky? It’s not safe to do that in this age. You can get into serious trouble.”   
“It’s nothing like that. He’s… I know him. It’s fine.”   
“Bucky, please, you can’t just-”

“I asked Sam for it,” Bucky admitted hesitantly, “when he had too much to drink at one of Stark’s parties.” He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. An invisible fish hook tugged at the corner of Steve’s open mouth. “I’ll pay him back when I can, I swear.”

Steve bowed his head and chuckled, picking up the ebony box again after. He examined the ring inside more scrupulously.

“I can’t believe you’re going to ask Thorn – I mean Emma – to marry you.”

“Neither can I,” Bucky sighed. He chewed his lip and looked left and right. “But it feels right, you know? I’m not often sure of many decisions, but this just… it works.”

Steve fought off a bigger grin and slid the ring box back. He genuinely couldn’t believe it. He’d watched Bucky’s condition fluctuate for so long. When Emma had been pulled from the Hudson unconscious, he’d honestly thought it would finish him. It was obvious to everyone at that point how he felt about her. She was good for him. He’d been so fragile and conflicted, and on the verge of self-destruction. Now, he was signalling at a waitress like it was second nature to him again. He’d come so far and it was remarkable.

It would’ve been optimistic for Steve to believe he was the Bucky he once knew – nobody could ever be the same after what he had experienced – but he was a whole person again. He was a good man. A man that would follow Steve to hell and back if it was necessary. So long as that man was happy, so was Steve.

They left the diner just as the sun dipped behind the horizon, painting pink and amber across the evening canvas. The sounds of their footsteps echoed in the night time.

“Do you know how I should go about it?” Bucky asked.   
“Proposing? ‘Fraid not. One of the few mysteries still eluding me is that of romance. Despite how Natasha would like it.”  
“I just… I want to get it right. Do I do it in a public place like a restaurant? Or do I keep it private, just between us? I could do it with just the team around I suppose…”

“Bucky,” Steve said, turning and placing his hand on his shoulder, “she’s going to say yes because it’s you, not because you asked her under a full moon with a mariachi band singing an Elvis Presley song.”   
“Do you think she’d like that? Because-”  
“Buck.” He sighed, stifling a smile. “If you’re really worried about how to do it, you know her better than anyone. Use that to your advantage.”

They walked a little farther, to where Steve’s motorcycle was parked outside of the apartment building. Bucky check that the ring box was securely in his pocket before unlocking the door. Tomorrow. That was the day. He had it all worked out, and it was going to be perfect. That was the plan, anyway.   
“Emma?” He called out, spotting Pebble snoozing alone on the sofa. “I’m back. Are you here?”  
“Just got out the shower. I’ll be two seconds,” came the reply.

* * *

 

The shower head dripped a couple of times as the water petered out. Emma scraped the wet hair from her face and inhaled deeply, stepping out of the shower and wrapping the towel around her. Their apartment wasn’t extravagant – it had been a bit of a fixer-upper – but it was home. The bathroom was a good size, attached to the bedroom, and all of the fittings were new and clean.

Emma wiped the condensation from the mirror and leaned over the sink to peer into it. There were a couple of scars still visible from the events last year, but ultimately they were fading lines in the sand.

She took another, smaller towel and bent over to begin drying her hair. When she whipped her head back, her breath caught in her throat.

“It’s cute,” said the STAR agent, Regina Thorn. Her austere expression was smudged by the foggy mirror but there was no mistaking the reflection’s identity. Her hair was pulled back into a taught braid that cascaded over her shoulder and partly down her chest. It was both a dark blonde and light blonde, just as it had been.

“It’s cute that you think you can have a normal life like this.”

“There’s nothing normal about it,” Emma sighed. “What’s normal about fighting bad guys with a team of superheroes? I’m just… grounded, is all.”  
“You’ve lost your discipline,” Regina Thorn snapped, her arms behind her back and her legs wide. She wore the familiar black shirt and trousers of a STAR agent. “You’re here playing house when you should be working. There is always a threat to be neutralised.”

Before Emma could respond, another voice arose.   
“She’s right. There is always more work to be done.” The Asset stated. “HYDRA’s influence is waning and needs reinforcing. You have a wider reach now more than ever. It is an ample opportunity to reinstate the glory of HYDRA.”

Her red hair seemed to flicker on either side of her face. It was significantly shorter than Regina Thorn’s. The only thing they seemingly had in common was the all-black attire, except The Asset was in a snug bodysuit that was designed for practicality and efficiency.

“I’m not… I’m not doing anything.” Emma protested, her hands gripping the edge of the sink as she leaned into the mirror a little further. She daren’t turn around. They wouldn’t be there, and it would only prove that she’d made them up. She didn’t want to be reminded of that. After all, she was capable of fighting her own arguments, even if it was with herself.

“Doing nothing is fine,” said the final incarnation. The Amnesiac. “It gives you a chance to collect your thoughts.”

She was wearing a pair of jeans and a new jumper that was supposed to look old. A jumper that was store-bought but was supposed to be something she wore a lot. A façade. Protruding from one of the sleeves was the metal hand that continued to tighten around the sink.

“Sometimes it’s better to stay indoors. Nothing can hurt or confuse you inside.”   
“Would you all just… shut up?” Emma hissed. This was the last thing she needed. “I don’t need your input. I’m perfectly fine.”  
“Are you?” Regina Thorn asked, folding her arms and pouting. “You’re like an elastic band pulled too tightly. You could snap at any moment. Face it: you are not a domestic. You never were, even before us.”

Wrenching her eyes closed, Emma focused on taking a breath.   
“I am _trying_. That’s the point.”   
“You may have a point, but no purpose. You are wading in water too deep. Drowning in the blood you long to take.” The Asset interrupted.   
“I don’t want blood!” She cried, staring up at the multiple reflections and daring them to come closer. It wouldn’t be the first smashed mirror she’d hidden from Bucky. “You do. You whisper things in my head all the time.”

“Wake up. Empty. Sleep. Wake up. Nothing. Sleep. Wake up. Hollow. Sleep. Repeat as necessary. Do you remember how that felt?” said the Amnesiac Thorn. “It’s no different now, is it? You feel like you’re living a lie. You have to finish the mission. That’s why you rescued The Winter Soldier, and it’s why you almost killed him under HYDRA’s sway.”

“I don’t have a mission to finish. We complete them as a team,” Emma said.   
“And then what? You come home, make Chicken Teriyaki and fall asleep in front of the television.” Regina Thorn barked. Her hands had returned to behind her back, a militant posture that reinforced her point.   
“Wake up. Empty. Sleep. Wake up. Nothing. Sleep,” whispered the jumper-clad woman.

Emma raised her fist to smash to mirror and noted the way her reflections didn’t flinch. They’d known what she’d do before she did. How could they not? She took a deep breath and pulled her fist back.

“Emma?” A voice that was not her own broke through the illusion. “I’m back. Are you here?”

Suddenly, she was alone in her bathroom again. Staring into a cloudy mirror, dressed in a towel, and slowly dripping dry. Quickly, she drew her hands into her torso and bent over them. Her sodden hair fell either side of her face as she panted faster. She’d almost lost her grip again. In an attempt to calm herself, Emma placed her hands over her face and took 3 deep breaths. In, out. In, out. In, and out.

“I just got out the shower.” She called. “I’ll be two seconds.”


	3. Chapter 3

Thorn sipped gingerly at the wine, resisting the temptation to throw it down her neck completely.    
“See anything you like?” She asked Bucky who was perusing the menu. His eyes appeared over the top of the card, softening at the sight of her.

She wore her hair in gentle curls; the light bounced off each ringlet. He would’ve been captivated by her hair alone had she not coupled it with a scarlet tea dress, matching rosy lipstick, and white lace gloves. The ensemble made his heart pound.

“Yeah, I’ve got my eye on something,” he replied. Thorn sipped her wine again. This time Bucky watched her press the glass to her lips and tip liquid sunshine down her throat. Bucky found himself captivated by her. Maybe it was just the importance of the evening, but he simply couldn’t look away. Perfect. She looked absolutely perfect. He wouldn’t have had it any other way.

“How do you do it?” He asked, once she’d placed the glass down on the table. She kept her fingers firmly on the neck.   
“Do what?”   
“So effortlessly… How are you so effortlessly beautiful?”

Thorn didn’t know how to react. She let slip a smile and looked down into her lap.   
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, letting her hand hit the table. He hadn’t meant to embarrass her but Bucky hoped it was the good kind of bashfulness. The kind that made your stomach twirl and your face feel hot.

“I mean it,” he insisted, pulling the glass from her fingers and replacing it with his own hand, “whenever I look at you, I feel at home, you know? It’s not something I’ve felt before and… and I like it.”

Thorn looked up at him and smiled briefly.   
“I like it too.”

Bucky beamed. He took his hand from hers and leant back slightly, reaching into his jacket pocket. The ring was still there. Waiting. Urging him. He knew he shouldn’t rush it but he could feel it begging to be done. The question on the tip of his tongue.

Thorn seemed content, relaxed. She stole the menu and began looking over it herself with peaceful elegance upon her face. Would she chastise him for asking now? Probably not. But then what if she said no? Then they’d have to spend the entire dinner in awkward silence, whereas they’d have all night to celebrate if she said yes.

Best to wait, he thought. Best to wait.

Bucky took his hand out of his jacket, catching Thorn’s attention. She smiled at him and he smiled back. Her eyes returned to the menu as took a swig of his own drink. He could feel himself getting nervous even though he’d vowed not to ask yet.

The waiter approached the table.   
“Sir, madam; my name is Tristan and I will be serving you this evening. Are you ready to order?”

* * *

 

The night seemed to pass with agonising slowness. Bucky checked his watch every five minutes, telling Thorn that he was timing the service when she picked him up on it.

“I’m proud of myself,” she said as the waiter collected their empty crockery. She dabbed lightly at the ends of her mouth. “I ate an entire bowl of soup without spilling a drop on me.”   
“You could almost say it was the perfect night…?” Bucky smiled, his eyebrows turning up in the middle with frightened curiosity.

Slowly, and with an increasing look of suspicion, Thorn nodded. Bucky was being incredibly attentive. Even more than normal. He was asking her lots of questions, ensuring that the conversation was pleasant, and seeing to her every need. Had she not known him, she’d have thought him one of the best waiters in the business.

“What’s wrong?” He asked when she tilted her head.   
“You’re being nice.”  
“I’m always nice.”   
“Yes, but you’re being… _very_ nice.”   
“Is that a bad thing?” Bucky smiled weakly.   
“I don’t know yet.”

Thorn turned to pick up her wine glass, intending to finish off what remained in it. At the same time, she caught something in the reflection. At first, she was concerned that it was a figment of her paranoid mind. But she stared for a second longer and confirmed it.

Steve Rogers.

Bucky was fiddling with something in his jacket pocket, giving her a second to turn slightly and confirm her suspicions. What was he doing here? He was sat 2 tables away, opposite somebody else, wearing shades, a cap, and a high-collared jacket. Indoors. In a dark restaurant. Apparently, he thought he was being inconspicuous.

The more Thorn looked around the restaurant (no longer caring whether or not Bucky noticed anymore) the more familiar faces she saw. Sam was wearing similar garb in a booth, next to Tony. On the other side of the room, Wanda was sat next to Natasha, the former whispering like a school girl every so often.

Thorn’s pulse rocketed.

“Are you okay?” Bucky asked. He watched as Thorn’s fingers gently dug into the table cloth and his brow lowered.   
“I’m- I’m fine,” she assured him, trying to focus on calming her breathing. It was going to be alright, she told herself. Whatever was happening, whatever was going on, it couldn’t be as bad as what her head was making up.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” He asked again, taking her hand giving it a squeeze. Immediately, Thorn pulse reverted. Her breathing slowed. She felt better. No matter what happened, Bucky was here. Everything would turn out alright.

She smiled at him and sighed.   
“I’m good. Are _you_ alright?”

Bucky flashed a watery grin.   
“Yes,” he sighed. “Yes, I am. I’ve been alright for a very long time, actually, and I think I owe it to you.”

Suddenly, alarm bells went off again.   
“I don’t know about that. Steve has helped.”  
“He’s done what any friend would do, but you. _You_. I don’t know where I’d be without you.” Bucky released Thorn’s hand for but a moment, and stood. Walking around the table, he got to his knees in front of her. Bucky looked up at her with wide eyes. Thorn’s state of panic returned. She lacked the breath to speak out and stop him.

“You, Emma, are one of the few people in this world who I can talk to. Not at, or with, but _to_. That sounds selfish… and maybe it is, but I don’t care. You will always listen to me. You understand me more than most and you still let me just talk rather than trying to sympathise. I can’t tell you what it means to me.”

“Bucky-” Thorn whispered, but he was steaming ahead. Steve’s head turned. He took off his disguise. He smiled at her.

“You and I have built a life together that I thought I might never have again. We have a home, and a dog. We wash dishes and we pay rent. We do the most ordinary and mundane things together and I don’t think I could love that as much were I with anyone else.”

Now Steve and the Avengers were not the only spectators. A hush had fallen over the establishment that made Thorn’s throat feel like a corset.   
“Emma, I love you. I’ve said it a thousand times but it’s just not enough. I’d say that I loved you with every fibre of my being if I didn’t think it was an understatement for the ferocity of my emotions.”

A woman in the corner clutched her heart. Thorn wanted to claw at hers. Reaching into his jacket pocket, Bucky fished out a small velvet box, stealing away any voice Thorn might’ve had left. He peeled it open to reveal a simple gold band with a small jewel in the top.

“Emma Phelps, please, would you allow me the honour of marrying you?”

Thorn placed her hands over her mouth and muffled the sounds of her gasping for air. Tears smudged her vision – but there was no denying the appearance of three familiar figures in the shadow of the room.

The STAR agent, the Asset, and the Amnesiac all watched on with blank faces. She could hear their words in her head.   
_“You’re here playing house…”_  
“There is always more to be done.”  
“Doing nothing is fine.” 

Bucky’s smile wavered as tears streamed down Thorn’s cheeks. He’d anticipated tears, and shock – that had been the point of surprising her – but what he hadn’t banked on was Thorn pausing. Hesitating.

Just when he might have begun to worry, her head began to nod slowly. A sigh fell from his lips.   
“Yes,” she whispered. “Let’s get married.”

The restaurant erupted into applause as Thorn fell out of her chair into Bucky’s arms. She was so very glad that he was there to hold her or else she might not have stayed up on her own. His arms held her tightly, rubbing circles into her back.   
“I’m so happy,” he laughed. “For a minute there, I thought you might’ve said no.”

Thorn stared over Bucky’s shoulder at the three visions of herself. They melted into the shadows without a change of expression.

“Why would I have said that?”

* * *

Thorn turned the corner and relished the feeling of the cold night air hitting her face. She was wrapped up in one of Bucky’s jumpers and a pair of jeans. Around her shoulders was a red blanket. She pulled it tighter as she slowed down and lingered at the corner of the sidewalk.

Looking left and right, she watched the empty roads and took in the blissful silence. Their apartment was thankfully just outside the city, where hardly any cars drove. It meant that night-time walks were peaceful and calm. The perfect remedy for a busy mind.

Her busied mind was disturbed, however, when Thorn’s phone began to ring. Despite knowing that she needed the solitude, Thorn daren’t leave without it.

She answered the call.   
“Hi Bucky,”   
“Are you alright?”   
“Yes, sorry, I’m fine. I just… I was struggling to sleep.”

“Again?”   
“Just one of those nights.”   
“Of course. Are you sure you’re alright though? I woke up and the bed was cold. When did you leave?” Thorn bit her lip and tried to ignore the guilt pooling in her stomach.   
“About 10 minutes ago. I didn’t want to wake you.”   
“Don’t worry. Are you far? I can come and meet you.”

“That’s okay,” she replied. “I doubt I will be long. Just needed to stretch the legs. Tire myself out, you know?”   
“Yeah. Alright. I’ll stay up until you come home, okay?”  
“Okay,” she smiled sadly. “I’ll speak to you in a bit.”

Thorn hung up as a BMW rolled around the corner. It stopped by the pavement where she was standing, and the window of the passenger seat rolled down.   
“We don’t have long,” Thorn said, “I think he might already suspect me.”

The door to the car swung open.   
“Get in,” said Tony.


	4. Chapter 4

“Have you seen this?” Natasha said, strutting inside and slapping the folder down on the kitchen table. Bucky, who had opened the door to her, grunted.   
“Please, do come in.”

Steve lowered his mug with a raised eyebrow as he examined the papers that had been thrust under his nose. Bucky shut the door with a sigh and approached, peering over his friend’s shoulder.   
“What am I looking at?” asked Steve.   
“It’s a list.”   
“Thank you, Natasha, I’m not that old. What’s it a list of?”

“Do you want a drink?” Thorn asked. She stood up from the table, and also perused the list, sipping at a glass of cider.   
“No. It’s a list of SHIELD agents,” Natasha said, “or rather ex-SHIELD agents.”   
“Alright. Why are some highlighted?”

“No, wait, I know that name,” Bucky interjected, accepting a drink from Thorn, who snaked her arm around his waist afterwards. “She was one of the ones who went missing.” Nat nodded.   
“The guys you took out weren’t the masterminds after all. Just pawns, and they had this list on them. We reckon the warehouse we raided was just a holding cell, that they’re moving the victims elsewhere. It has all the names of the agents gone missing, and a few others – presumably still to be taken.”

Steve frowned. He’d been looking forward to the break that their victory had presumably awarded them. This new information was not something he’d anticipated. He’d hoped that the clean-up crew would’ve discovered the location of the agents and rescued them, finishing the job. Instead it had opened a new wound.

Thorn sipped shakily at her drink, trying to pretend that she didn’t recognise most of the names on the list. She’d not known any of them personally, but they were good agents. Instead, she recognised something else.   
“Wait a minute…”   
“I’m glad someone noticed,” Natasha smirked.   
“They’re all SHIELD agents.”

Bucky and Steve shared a glance. Had that not already been determined?   
“I mean they’re all _SHIELD_ -SHIELD agents, not HYDRA-SHIELD goons. They were all loyal to the cause.”

The realisation hit Steve like a brick.   
“HYDRA must still active. It’s targeting the others.”

He stood up abruptly and made for the door. Natasha was on his heels as he picked up the shield next to the doorway.   
“I’ve got addresses for the remaining people and I’m getting a team together,” she stated, pulling out her phone to begin their assembly. Bucky followed quickly. In truth he was excited to get back out.   
“Great. You take them and round up all but one. Bucky, Thorn, and I will go this last guy’s house and catch whoever’s carrying this out. With a bit of luck, they’ll tell us who’s behind this.”

Thorn watched the trio storm from the room, shutting the door behind them. She tugged at her sleeves and chewed her lip, voices murmuring in the silence. Taunting. Threatening. Pebble trotted past and Thorn was pulled from her daze by a furry tail brushing her leg.

Natasha opened the door and leaned in.   
“Everything alright?”

* * *

The rain hadn’t picked up yet, but Thorn could hear the droplets beginning to patter on the roof. A wild wind swept across the world too.   
“Nat’s just texted,” Steve informed her. “The others are in a safe house. We’ll get our guy there after we’ve finished here.”

The three of them were in a 4x4 over the road from the house of an ex-SHIELD agent. Lionel Palmer. He had been an analyst, and a damned good one. Thorn could almost see why he was a target.   
“How are we doing this?”   
“Buck, you’re gonna be on the roof of that liquor store down the road. Fire escape will get you up there, but don’t take the shot unless it’s necessary. Remember, we want these guys to talk. Thorn, you and I will go up to the door and talk to Mr Palmer. I’ll wait inside with him, and you’ll hide outside. As and when our _friends_ arrive, you give me a heads up.”

Everybody took their positions. Bucky had driven to the end of the road and climbed the fire escape. Steve was inside the house. Thorn crouched beside the wall of the house. She’d equipped herself with her a rapier again and had strapped it to her hip.

Something felt off about the situation, she thought. It was almost too easy. The finding of the list, the pattern, the plan… It had come together all too quickly. Though HYDRA were still in tatters, surely they weren’t that naïve? Before she could contemplate the coincidence, an eerily dark van sped past. Its brakes could be heard screeching in the street as it stopped.

Crawling to the nearest window, she rapped her knuckles twice – alerting Cap – before returning to her hiding spot. She watched and waited. And waited. And waited. Still nobody came. Yet Thorn had been so sure that it was them.

She stood up, knowing the shadows of the house would conceal her so long as she let them. Peering out, she spotted the van parked in the centre of the road. The engine still chugged. The gentle moonlight bounced off of the ebony paintwork. No doors had opened; no windows were down. Nothing. It had just… stopped.

Thorn kept her hand on the brick, its rugged body biting her fingertips. The house was met by a stone pathway, connecting it to the road but she daren’t step any further down it than arm’s length. The van bumbled up and down gently but moved nowhere.

As Thorn’s fingertips left the brick, the back doors burst open and 4 men sprung out of the van. They covered ground faster than a whip and Thorn prepared herself for a fight. She unsheathed a blade – only to feel it struck from hand with a baton. It was unnerving how quickly they’d arrived.

Thorn had expected them to move past her, maybe leaving a man or two behind to attack. But they leapt on her like a pack of wild dogs. Hands were grabbing everything they could. Arms, legs, ankles; she could feel fingers around her throat, crushing her windpipe. In a flash she was rendered helpless. There was nothing she could do.  

Thorn was lifted clear off the ground with no air to scream and no limbs to fight. She flailed as best she could but felt herself being pulled closer and closer to the ominous black van.

She knew that Bucky would be watching in horror, but also knew he wouldn’t take the shot for fear of hitting her. Thorn wished he’d shoot anyway. She couldn’t breathe.

The sound of a crack made her heart jump before filling it with hope. Steve burst from the house and careered towards Thorn. Swinging his shield across, he battered the heads of both nearest men. They dropped to the ground, and air rushed to her lungs in a tremendous gust. The surplus of air was utilised in the form of a gasp as her upper body swung sickeningly to the ground.

Thorn’s kidnappers were persistent, dragging her along the ground by her legs until they were dangerously close to the van. Finally, the sound of the gun cracked in the evening air. The man grasping her right ankle slumped to the ground. Steve slung his shield at the throat of the last one.

Spluttering, Thorn rolled over and clutched at her neck. Steve pulled her onto his lap.   
“Thorn – I mean, Emma. Emma, are you alright?” He whispered, but she made no reply. After a bit more gagging, she nodded hesitantly, continuing to pant.

The sound of frantic footsteps signalled Bucky’s arrival. He fell to his knees beside Steve and brushed her hair aside.   
“Oh my god… Did they hurt you? Are you okay? What the hell happened?” He growled. Thorn reached up and took his hand, shaking it slightly. She still lacked words.

“You only shot one of them,” Steve said, standing up with Thorn in his arms, “so there’s a chance the others might come to and give us some information.”  
“Call Nat first. Update her. She might be able to figure something out by the time we get back.”

Steve carried Thorn to the car, whilst Bucky piled the henchmen into the back of the van. He drove it back with a fierce grip on the steering wheel. This had been completely unexpected. It was supposed to be an open and shut mission. Nobody had foreseen Thorn being a target too. Could it have been her history with SHIELD? Or even STAR? What could possibly tie her to these kidnappings? And why hadn’t it happened before? Why _now_? It was strange and unnerving. Bucky didn’t like it. There was so much wrong.

They arrived back at base shortly after where Natasha met them at the door with Helen Cho and Wanda. Wanda and Dr Cho helped lifted Thorn out of the passenger seat. She continued to insist that she was fine, despite being as pale as a china plate, and just as fragile. Wanda looked incredibly distressed.

Bucky watched them leave for a moment, before turning towards the hood of the van. Placing his hands on it, he tried to calm his breathing. The sound of bending metal was distinct and it put Steve and Nat on their guard. They hadn’t seen him this on edge since… a long time ago.  
“We should get these _bastards_ out of the van,” he snarled.   
“They can wait,” Nat placated. “Take a breath first; you’ve got a lot going on.”

Silence fell for a moment, until he sighed and stretched. Steve noted the indents on the car hood where his metal hand had been. He placed a hand gently on Bucky’s shoulder.   
“I think it’s a leak,” Nat then said. “A mole in the team. Somewhere.”   
“Impossible,” Steve snapped. “Our team is handpicked.”

“That doesn’t mean anything. Even the choicest meats go off.”   
“They’re not meat, Nat. They’re people.”   
“Worse still. They’re fickle. They can be bribed. Somebody might have gotten a better offer – or it might be as simple as someone who doesn’t realise they’ve let the information slip.”

Bucky frowned.   
“How does someone do that?”   
“Talking on a tapped phone line, speaking to a friend about the day’s work at a bus stop. Anything can be overheard nowadays, depending on where you’re talking.”

Steve ran a hand through his hair before crossing his arms.   
“Alright. How do we find out if it is a leak?”

Nat took that as a sign to go ahead with a plan she’d probably formulated an hour ago.    
“I’ll start surveillance. See if all our kit is still secure, if our scrambling methods still work. I can check if anyone is listening to our phone calls, or if the tech that masks our location has faltered. That won’t take me long. After that, I’ll start personal assessments – evaluating staff and the like. That includes the Avengers.”

Steve nodded before opening the door to the van.   
“You do what you have to do. We’ll follow the 3 leads we just picked up.”   
“I’m going to check on Emma,” Bucky said. “I’ll be no help to anybody in my current state. Paranoid. Antsy.”

And so the three went their separate ways. If there was to be a beginning to the action of this story, it would most likely be now.

Thorn slipped into the car with more difficulty than usual. She still felt a bit out of it, and Tony noted as much.   
“I was surprised to get your call. Heard you were confined to your bed,” Tony said once she was comfortable.   
“I was.”

Tony said nothing, expecting her to elaborate but apparently she intended to leave a melodramatic and ominous pause.   
“So… nobody noticed you disappearing? Nobody?”   
“Bucky was asleep. Everybody else was gone. Besides, we won’t be long.”  
“Won’t we?”

“Nat’s snooping around, looking for the leak,” she sighed, turning towards the window and watching the lampposts slide past, “To avoid any suspicion, it’s probably best that we… postpone this arrangement.”   
“You dragged me out here at quarter past 1 in the morning to tell me that?”

Thorn’s eyebrow curved.   
“If I’d have texted you, that would’ve been a message for her to find later.”   
“Phonecalls, Thorn. They exist. You can’t hack a phonecall.”   
“Yes, you can,” she snapped, before sinking back into her seat. As the limo drove past another streetlight, Tony got a good look at her. He couldn’t tell whether it was the result of the day’s experiences or whether it was just the night lighting, but Thorn looked awful. A lion that hadn’t been fed.

There were dark shadows under her eyes and her face was thin. She had a nervous look in her eyes, that made them dart to the right every so often, as if someone was there.   
“I’m dropping you back,” he grunted, leaning forward and talking to the driver. “You need sleep. And lots of it. Maybe a couple of shots of tequila too, Christ.”

Thorn said nothing for the rest of the drive. She wanted to protest, and point out that being dropped off together would be a bad idea; they’d risk being seen. However, she also knew that her head was not with her.

Much like when she’d left, the corridor lights in the Avengers infirmary were dimmed. Thorn’s footsteps echoed as she walked, but she thought nothing of it. There was nobody about to hear them except her. She opened the door to her room and stepped inside, head low.

Bucky sat on the edge of the bed with his head bowed. Natasha turned on the light and stepped forward with her arms crossed. 


	5. Chapter 5

Of course it had ended like this.

Thorn sat at the table with her hands cuffed and her head sunken. When Natasha had stepped forward, Thorn had become a rabbit in headlights. She was guilty if she spoke, she was guilty if she didn’t. Granted she would’ve been guilty of two very different things, but at the time she hadn’t been able to decide which she’d rather confess to.

Now it all seemed sickeningly clear. Too easy. She should’ve come clean a long time ago. It was no use now. She could tell them the truth or a pack of lies, there was no rebuilding the trust she’d destroyed with her secrecy.

Poof. Just like that. Gone.

Thorn didn’t cry. She’d only cried a few times before in her life. But when her interrogator walked through the door, she felt like she might burst into tears.

Bucky pulled out the chair and lowered himself onto it. He kept his eyes averted and remained stone-faced. For a few minutes he simply sorted through the folder he’d brought with him. Thorn didn’t know what was in it. She didn’t want to.

Eventually he spoke. His voice was low and fragile.   
“How long?”

“James, please listen to me, I-”  
“How long?!”

Thorn had never truly seen Bucky angry. Not with her. Not like this.

“3 months.”

His jaw clenched and he looked away. She could hear him choking, though whether it was tears or rage he was holding back, she was terrified to find out.   
“I’m supposed to be interrogating you…” He moved on. “I’m supposed to be asking you questions. I volunteered for it. I had to know but- but I don’t know if I can now.”   
“So don’t. Let me talk. I’ll tell you everything. Then you decide what you want to ask.”

Bucky looked at her.

In that moment, it was like there was nothing wrong. Slowly, he nodded and she felt a glimmer of hope that the situation might be salvageable.

“4 months ago, my nightmares started. You know that. I saw… everything. From the day I rescued you, to Pierce, to the Hudson river; water everywhere. Each night, I could feel myself drowning all over again. It was insufferable. So I started walking. Again, you know that. I would just get up and walk and tire myself out. Then I’d come back to bed and try and sleep until morning.

“One night, I was walking and I wasn’t the only one. Tony was about too. With both of our… situations, it was odd that we’d not crossed paths before. Anyway, he asked why I was up but I wouldn’t tell him. If I’m being honest he probably figured it out but he was gracious enough not to press too hard. I didn’t want to tell him so he didn’t ask. Instead, he said that I should talk to someone else. Namely: you. But I just… I couldn’t. My problems, my issues, whatever they are, they are nothing in comparison to what you went through. Miniscule. I couldn’t expect you to sit through my sob-story when you had your own still happening. I didn’t want you to have to worry about me. I told Tony as much and he asked what family I had. When I brought up my brother, I explained that he still thought I was some computer nerd down under. But Tony pointed out he was going to find out some time.

“After that it became a regular thing. Tony would bounce the signal so that nobody could target Arthur– you and I both know that I’m hopeless with computers – and I would talk to him whenever I got nightmares. That is it, I promise you. There is nothing more. I haven’t told anybody anything. I haven’t leaked any sensitive information. I am not a leak.”

* * *

 

Bucky said nothing. At some point during Thorn’s tale, he’d placed his fingertips in front of his mouth. His eyes were blank; she could read nothing from them, and that was disconcerting. He’d never shut her out before. If she’d had any hope of getting through to him, then it was being stoked by the look on his face now.

“Please, say something,” she begged. Bucky obliged.   
“You lied to me.”   
“No, everything I’ve told you had been-”  
“I don’t mean now,” he said, bowing his head and resting his clenched fists on the table. He looked away and sucked in a breath before continuing.

“You could’ve talked to me. All those times I asked you if you were okay, if you wanted to talk, or when I called you because I woke up to a cold and empty bed, you told me you were fine. You made me believe that you were okay, that I shouldn’t feel guilty for leaning on you a bit, but you _lied_. To my face.”

“James, don’t-”  
“No, I’m talking now,” he snapped. “You could’ve come to me. I would’ve listened, just like you did for me, but you went to Tony instead. You went to your brother.”   
“He’s my family!”

“And what am I?” Bucky yelled, slamming his fist against the table. Tears lined his eyes and he panted like a wounded animal. “What am I?”

With a desperate and anxious smile, Thorn slid her fingers over his.   
“I love you, James. You’re the man I’m going to marry,” she whispered. But Bucky shook his head and sniffed. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a familiar felt box and stared at it. He stood up, pulling his hand away from hers, and tossed the box onto the table.

“Not any more I’m not.”

* * *

 

Bucky shut the door behind him, and released a torrential sigh. Steve was waiting for him, and stood when he saw his friend exit the interrogation room.   
“Well?”   
“She’s not the leak.”

Steve sighed and smiled.   
“Oh thank god. I’ll be honest, I never thought she could be. Though I do want to know why-”  
“She’s not the leak,” Bucky growled, “You don’t need to know any more.”

Bucky stormed down the corridor, but Steve refused to leave it at just that. He could see there was more playing on his friend’s mind.   
“Nat’s interrogating Stark now, so you’re gonna have to tell one of us what happened if we’re going to verify that their stories match up.”   
“Well, Nat can tell me what he said, and I can say whether it marries up… or not.”

Steve grabbed Bucky’s shoulder and whirled him around. Narrowing his eyes, he stared fiercely at him.   
“Hey. I don’t know what happened in there, but you’d better start talking about it real soon. Remember what you said to me when my mom died? You don’t have to do this alone. There’s even more people who want to help you now, but you have to let them.”   
“Tell that to _her_ ,” Bucky said, his voice cracking slightly, before he wrenched himself out of Steve’s grip and continued down the hall. Alone.

Natasha appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, next to Steve.   
“What’s got his ass in a twist?” She asked.   
“I don’t know yet. He won’t tell me. The question is, what did Stark tell you?”   
“Thorn’s got some issues after what went down last year but she won’t talk to anyone about it. Tony helped her get in touch with some family and they’ve been sneaking around to do it so that nobody has to worry about anyone other than Barnes.”

“Did your surveillance bring up anything that counters that?”   
“No. But I doubt Tony would’ve been looking for a tapped phone line. You know what he’s like – he won’t spot anything he’s not already looking for. It’s possible someone could’ve listened to Thorn’s conversations and started taking notes.”

“You think she’s innocent?”   
“Never doubted it,” Nat smiled. “I just needed proof.”

Steve chuckled.   
“She was almost kidnapped. Isn’t that proof?”   
“It’s iffy. She could’ve set it up to feign her innocence. Tony said they’d been using a payphone down by the dock so that nobody here would overhear. Soon as I can, I’ll head down there and see if it’s wired at all. It would certainly explain why I can’t find any leaks here.”

With pursed lips, Steve sighed. Of course, he thought. No wonder he’s upset. Thorn and Bucky were going to get married and she’d gone to extensive lengths to keep something from him. No marriage should be based on lies. However, the more his thought process progressed, the more concerned he got. Surely Bucky wouldn’t… call it off?

In a panic, he hurried down the corridor. Natasha kept close on his heels, wanting to know what had flared his curiosity.

Thus, when Thorn’s head poked out of the doorway, she was glad to see an empty hallway.

Tony looked up at the sound of the door opening. His mouth opened and shut again when he saw that it was Thorn entering.   
“You seem to have a habit of coming to find me when you should be somewhere else.”

She said nothing, striding across the room and sitting in front of him. He noticed the cuffs around her wrists.   
“You too, huh?” he smirked, lifting his hands as high as he could. They stopped, however, when they reached the limit. “Then again, I thought you would’ve been chained to the table too.”

“I was,” she growled.

Tony examined the look in her eyes. It was wild and chaotic. The lion had not been fed again, and it was getting erratic.   
“We don’t have long to talk. Do you have a plan?”   
“Not exactly. I was going to see if they’d get me a coffee but-”

“I want to go after the leak,” she said.   
“Of course you do.”  
“I want to find out who did this, and I want to destroy them.”

Tony rolled his eyes, and wished that his hands were free enough that he could lean on one.   
“Did it occur to you that escaping now might frame us further? We don’t even know if they believe our tale.”   
“I don’t care,” she growled, “I’ve got nothing left to lose.”

Nothing was said for a while. Tony could feel the tension in the room, and he could almost hear the deplorable beating of Thorn’s heart. He didn’t need to ask what had happened. It was obvious. He almost felt guilty. He’d encouraged her to talk to her brother, and helped her do it. He hadn’t even considered how Bucky would view it if he ever found out. He’d just assumed that… Well, Tony didn’t know what to think. He was just grateful that Thorn was blaming the mole rather than him.

“Okay,” he nodded, “get me out of these cuffs and I’ll help you.”

Natasha got the warning all too late. Both of their prisoners had escaped. Bucky had only just begun to vent when she swore loudly and eloquently.   
“They are really not helping their case,” she yelled as she made for the quinjet hangar.

The trio arrived just in time to see Tony Stark waving as he piloted the plane up and away. The minute it was out of sight, the little red dot on Natasha’s phone screen disappeared. Stealth mode. Fabulous. Immediately, her demeanour changed. She stormed across the room and began yelling orders to various men in black uniforms.   
“Stark is going to be the absolute death of me,” she growled when she was back at Steve’s side.

He couldn’t help but think it was the wrong choice of words on her part as Bucky stared at the closing hangar roof with an unreadable expression on his face.

* * *

Tony leaned back in the leather seat, having enabled both the auto-pilot and stealth mode. He was feeling extremely proud of himself.

However, the smile was wiped clean off of his face when he saw how melancholy his companion looked. She’d picked up one of Banner’s post-Hulk blankets and wrapped it around herself, before sitting with her legs curled up and her hands in her lap. Any ferocity had dissipated in the escape, and now the lion was just a cub, cowering in its cage. There was no other word to describe the way she looked.

Thorn was just… sad.

Tony didn’t know quite what to do. He wanted to comfort her but knew not how. Based on his experiences, he assumed that taking her mind off of things might be the best course of action. If he could focus her on their mission, it might give her the drive she needed to complete it. A reminder that all of this was still fixable.

“So, where are we heading? This auto-pilot needs co-ordinates.”

Thorn looked up at him with wide eyes, and smiled briefly. Though she couldn’t say it, she was grateful.   
“Um, I… I don’t know. I hadn’t thought that far ahead. I suppose that the best course of action would be to retrace any steps.”  
“How far back are we going?”  
“Well, somebody tried to kidnap me. If it’s linked at all to the other missing persons, then they’re classing me as SHIELD. I reckon the best place to start would be where that career ended. If nothing else, it’ll be empty and nobody will think to look there.”   
“And where is this place?”

Tony noted the fact that she didn’t use Bucky’s name as she described the bank that the Winter Soldier had been kept in. He could tell that bringing him up at all during this escapade would be a bad idea. He let her disable the auto-pilot. So long as she was flying the plane, she wasn’t moping around. He wondered if there were any tea-making facilities on board. That was definitely going to be something he invested in once this was over.

He just wished he knew when that was. As Tony Stark took a seat and kicked his feet up, he got the feeling that this journey was going to be far longer and more arduous than he’d initially signed on for.


	6. Chapter 6

The quinjet shook and bounced as Thorn landed it on a nearby roof. Flicking a switch, she felt the outer panels judder as they turned to a reflective material, concealing the vehicle entirely.

She and Tony stepped outside before making their way down the fire escape. Tony admitted to himself that he felt slightly exposed without access to his suits. However, he also knew that someone would be waiting for him to call one out, so he forced himself to think of other things.

“How do we get in?” He asked, and Thorn nodded to a partially open manhole just down the street from where they were. Tony lowered her in carefully before following himself. The tunnel was dark and he could feel splashing under his feet as he walked, though he didn’t want to know what it was. They soon reached a rickety ladder that rose up into a sickeningly bright corridor.

They walked for seemingly hours, and Tony wished there was some way to pass the time.   
“How do we know where we’re going?” He asked, and Thorn pointed at various different things as she passed them.   
“They weren’t massive on hygiene, and… the Winter Soldier had undergone some injuries. We’re literally retracing steps.”

“What about that? Was that him?” He said, gesturing to a large crimson stain on the white floor. Thorn stared at it intensely but said nothing. Tony heard the grinding of her jaw before he saw it.   
“No,” she eventually growled. She closed her eyes and rolled one of her shoulders slightly before storming off. Tony hurried to keep up.

“You know nobody’s ever told me what happened that day? Care to change that?”

Thorn paused for a minute before speaking slowly and carefully, choosing her words with delicacy as she described what happened. She neglected some choice details but everything else was completely factual. To the point.  
“You sound like a completely different person,” Tony noted.   
“I was.”

He grunted.   
“Okay, if we’re going to work together you need to stop saying that with a brooding pause.”

Thorn smirked.   
“Sorry.

“I had a mission to watch this place with a team of other STAR agents-”  
“I’ll need telling what STAR is later…”  
“-until all of a sudden they turned on each other. I came inside to finish the mission we’d started and I found… HYDRA. Dressing up as one of them, I got inside and found the Winter Soldier. I got shot whilst freeing him and they caught me. They replaced him with me. I wasn’t as effective – I never could be – but they took everything up here, in my head, and filled it with them.”

“And all this happened here?” He said, captivated completely by her tale. She took a deep breath and looked over his shoulder. Thorn raised a finger and pointed to a large archway decorated with metal bars. Tony had seen a safety deposit room enough times, but this one was different. Evil…

Stepping inside, Thorn expected to feel horrors. She expected it to look exactly how it had, or at least, similar.

But it didn’t.

Everything was different. Walls that were usually a gleaming silver against the light were draped in darkness. The light above their heads had been destroyed and the broken bulb sparked every now and then, allowing them a better view of the room around them. Everything that had once been in the room – the machine, the bodies – was missing. Instead, there was a monitor. A little computer screen attached to a stand which was playing the same clip over and over and over again.

It was black and white, and a familiar scene to Thorn. She stepped closer to it, until she felt Tony grip her wrist.   
“Be careful. This seems sketchy.”

She nodded before kneeling in front of the screen. It was a few seconds long, and Thorn identified the people in the room. It was the safety deposit room, where the Winter Soldier had been kept, until last year. In fact…

Thorn watched as one of the masked guards turned on the other. Four shots. One into a man’s temple, another into somebody’s throat, and two into the remaining guard’s chest. It was her. In the corner, Bucky could be seen, shrieking in pain. All that time ago, and someone had got a hold the security footage.

The clip always ended when she stepped over the bodies towards the cowering scientist in the corner. She winced as she remembered his fate too.  In retrospect, he was a coward. He probably hadn’t needed to die.

She couldn’t watch any more. It always ended the same way. Four shots, bodies. Again. Four shots, bodies. Again.

Stepping away, she let Tony help her up. He held her close, trying to keep her eyes on him and not on what he could only guess was something she didn’t deserve to relive. He might even have been saying things to her, but she wasn’t listening. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched the clip one last time. She could see a pair of fingers creep over the monitor; the Asset in her head was watching her with a wicked grin.

It was then, however, that she noticed something else. A flicker. Something between each replay, that wasn’t a part of it. Letters, maybe a number. Either way, it was glaring at her too; demanding to be noticed.

“Can you slow that down?” She asked, pointing shakily at the monitor from which she’d never taken her eyes. Tony placed a hand on her cheek and turned her towards him. He looked her up and down, checking that she was still all there before replying.   
“I’ll see what I can do.”

He tinkered with the back of the monitor for quite some time before grunting.   
“This is horribly made.”  
“If you can’t do it, then-”  
“I didn’t say that.”

Sure enough, he fiddled with one last component and the video played in frames. This time as Thorn watched it, everything was going at an 1/8th of the speed. Just before it looped, however, a flash of 3 numbers appeared on screen and Thorn took off to the nearest wall.

She dragged her fingers over the labels attached to each of the safety deposit boxes, murmuring to herself as she went.   
“348, 348, 348… No, no, no! Where is it?”

Tony quickly began the search too, perusing the silver boxes one by one (albeit with less enthusiasm than Thorn – she was like a woman unleashed, hooking onto every sliver of a clue with a hunger unrivalled). When box 348 was finally located, however, her celebrations were short lived. There was no sign of a key. No handle. Nothing that would aid their recovery of the box’s contents.

Luckily, Tony didn’t need one.

“Stand back,” he said, as he revealed a hidden compartment in his watch. After pressing the glowing button underneath, the watch disassembled, and Tony pulled a detached plate over his fist. At the same time, a web of silver spread out on his hand, like circuity designed to fit him, and this allowed a myriad of maroon metal plates to slide into place.

The glove was amassed in under a second and with a smirk, he took aim at the box. Thorn quickly grasped his wrist and forced it down.   
“What if the contents is fragile – or flammable?”   
“I’m not gonna blow it up, dear. These things are designed to take a beating.”

Thankfully, the blast did little damage. Tony sighed. In all honesty, he didn’t know whether his glove would work or not. He’d just been itching for an excuse to try it out. Thorn pulled the bent and broken door off of its hinges and retrieved the box within. Peeling back the lid, she examined the finite contents.

3 yellow folders, an old nokia mobile phone, and a piece of paper containing various numbers and letters.

Tony pulled out the phone and turned it in his hands, whilst Thorn flicked through the files in the folders.   
“These men… I killed them.” She said, sounding surprisingly nonchalant given the topic of conversation.   
“When?”   
“In that video. A year ago. These are the Winter Soldier’s guards.”

Tony peered in and saw the face of a man called Devin May – before Thorn snapped the folder closed and placed it under her arm.   
“What’s special about the phone?”   
“Absolutely nothing, as far as I can tell. Seems like a burner. Not traceable or anything. Only got one number.”   
“Just one?”   
“I don’t even recognise it.”

Thorn sighed and decided to look at the last item in the box.   
“Co-ordinates,” she said, sounding thoroughly disappointed that it was the only recognisable thing they’d happened upon.   
“Is this the leak, do you think?” He asked.   
“I’m not sure. All I know is that someone knew we would come here.”

They trudged back through the bank, saying not a word to one another. Each of their minds were racing. They felt like they had several pieces to the puzzle yet none of them fit together. It was maddening.

Once inside the plane, Tony made the executive decision to input the co-ordinates and let the quinjet take off. Again, Thorn sat on the floor of the quinjet, but this time her eyes were alive. She spread the folders onto the floor and read them over and over and over. Now Tony wished more than ever that there were drink-making facilities on board. She looked like he and Bruce used to when they were working hard. She’d undoubtedly need a glass of something, if for no other reason than to stop her hands shaking with frustration.

“Find anything, Holmes?”   
“Not yet,” she grunted, letting her head fall into her hands. Tony ruffled her hair as he sat beside her.

“You don’t get out much, do you?” He sighed, stretching his legs and crossing them over. He placed his hands behind his head and stretched slightly. Thorn couldn’t help but think he was far too relaxed.

“Why would I do that?”   
“Why would anyone do it?! To have fun, to relax. You need to relax.”   
“That’s rich,” she smirked, “coming from you. You’ve not spoken to anyone about your… issues since you got them, have you?”

Tony frowned for a moment, before swallowing and reverting to his original smile. It seemed more frigid this time, though.   
“Takes one to know one.”

They sat in silence for a while longer before either of them said a word.   
“We don’t…” Tony murmured, clearing his throat a couple of times, “we don’t know each other that well, do we?”   
“We pretend to, because we should, but no. We don’t.”

Thorn picked up the old burner phone and glanced at the screen. Tony was right; just one number. It seemed familiar but her tired mind couldn’t think why. He sat and watched her play with it for a while, wondering whether to delve further into the conversation.   
“You, uh, you got much family?”

“Really? You’re doing this now?” She asked.   
“Why not?! We’ve got the time… and it’ll just be awkward otherwise.”   
“I can’t believe I’m having this conversation with you.”   
“Lighten up, Thorn. Okay – I gotta ask. Is Thorn your real name? I hear everyone call you it, but then ol’ Bucky boy calls you Emma.”

Tony could tell he’d hit a nerve by the way she winced but he wasn’t too concerned. She hadn’t said his name since they’d left but he wasn’t about to give up on his power couple yet.   
“My, uh… My name is Emma. Or it was. When I went into STAR, they gave me another name for my protection. Regina Thorn.”   
“I bet that wasn’t easy,” he said, sitting up and leaning in.

Thorn looked him up and down. She didn’t really want to talk about it but… nobody had ever considered becoming a STAR agent as a difficult feat. Even when Steve and Bucky found out, they’d just nodded along with it. They were soldiers, she supposed. To them it was a necessary evil. For Tony, it wasn’t.   
“It… It was hard,” she nodded.   
“I don’t know that I could give up my identity like that.”

“Well, yours would be a bit harder to get rid of,” she smiled. It was a genuine smile, and Tony was only happy to reciprocate it. He was glad to see that she was talking. She’d never spoken to him properly before; not about this.

“So did you have to give up other things too? Or just your name?”   
“Well, I had to move. Didn’t have much family left, but I told my brother that-”

Thorn froze. Her mouth stayed open, ghosting the thoughts she couldn’t process. _Her brother._ Tony filled in the gap for her, thinking that she was suddenly anxious.   
“-that you worked for an internet company in Australia, I know.”

“Oh god. No.”

Tony’s eyes flickered left for a moment.   
“…no?”   
“No, no, no – impossible,” she hissed, hitting the dial button on the burner phone and placing the receiver by her ear. _Her brother… It was his number._

However, Tony wasn’t going to let her go through her revelation alone. Quick as a whip, he pulled the phone from her fingers and placed it on the floor, enabling the loudspeaker so that the ringing tone echoed throughout the room.

3 times it rang before somebody picked up. The silence that followed caused all breath to stick in Thorn’s throat, her tongue welded to her mouth.

“Hello, Miss Thorn,” said a very unfamiliar voice. It was definitely not her brother. Tony looked to her for some sort of reaction but she said nothing. Instead she glared at the phone and pulled the blanket over her shoulders a little tighter.   
“You don’t know me, do you?” said the voice of a girl. Tony wanted to believe it was a woman but it sounded too high… Too young.

Silence.

“Of course not. You didn’t know my father either, but that didn’t stop you from killing him. I’m sure you’ll figure out who he is very soon, and I’m sure you’ll feel all sorts of guilt. You’ll want to barter with me. Maybe even apologise. Or alternatively, you could feel no remorse. You could be completely content with life. However, I’m willing to bet you’re not. Nonetheless, you took someone I love. It’s only right that I return the favour.”

Tony finally caught on – but he was just a little too late. The sound of Arthur’s screams could be heard before a shot rang out and his cries turned to gargling. It took a sickening 2 minutes for him to be silent, and Thorn’s face never once changed. Tony didn’t know whether to be comforted or unnerved by it.

Suddenly the voice got much lower and louder.   
“I will take away everyone you love if that’s what it takes to find you. I will rip everything out from inside your head until you beg me to put something – anything – back in. You will come to me on your knees or I will force you onto them.

“I will see you soon, Miss Thorn. Ready or not; here I come.”

* * *

Tony only just managed to grab Thorn before she collapsed onto the floor in fits of tears. He pulled her into his lap and kicked the phone away with his foot. She wept and wept into his chest and didn’t cease for a good half hour. He didn’t know what to do. All he felt capable of was stroking her hair and holding her tightly.


	7. Chapter 7

Tony sat in silence in the pilot’s seat. His hands were curled and pressed to his lips. He stared straight ahead at the clouds, knowing that if he closed his eyes longer than to blink he’d see it again. The change in Thorn’s face as she broke down; the quiver in her lip, the dampening of her eyes, and the hollowing of her cheeks. He understood now that it was her training. She’d held it together as long as she could, refusing to let the strange girl on the phone hear her falter.

Now, however, she lay sleeping on the floor. Tony remembered a line from a film he’d seen once, or was it a book? He couldn’t remember. _In dreams, we enter a world that is entirely our own._ Tony hoped that Thorn’s world was a good one. He hoped that whilst she was sleeping she would be safe from herself.

He considered for a moment turning the plane around, abandoning the co-ordinates and making for Arthur’s house. He could pick up the body and take it somewhere safe before she even stirred. He could be given burial later.

No, he thought. No, that’s not my choice. He sighed and sunk further into the chair. If Thorn was going to be helped at all, they would need to apprehend the person tormenting her thusly. Even if that meant following the path that they’d laid out for them. He quickly realised after the horrific phone call that discovering the safety deposit box was a trap. He didn’t doubt the co-ordinates would be too.  

Nonetheless, they had no other leads.

Thorn wasn’t quite asleep. In her dreams, she could hear voices and see faces. It was the same faces that stirred her awake every night – now joined by another.

Her brother stood beside the Asset, the Amnesiac, and the STAR agent. His eyes were hollow and dark. His jaw was slack and ever-growing.   
“Why didn’t you save me?” He moaned. “Why didn’t you come for me, or protect me? I was all you had left…”

She snuffled and rolled over, trying to ignore the voices but knowing the fight was futile.

The quinjet lowered itself onto the snow, and shook Thorn awake. Her eyes were slightly red but otherwise Tony could see that she was bettered by the brief rest. As soon as possible, he was going to find her some time to sleep properly. She needed it.

“Are… Are we there?” She asked groggily. Tony couldn’t blame her for not wanting acknowledge previous events.   
“I think so. We’ve matched up with the co-ordinates we found, but I think we’ll have to go on foot from here.”

Thorn could see why. They kitted up in some of the coats strewn about the jet and braced the cold. Up ahead of them was an incredibly snowy mountain. It stretched up into the heavens and blended in about halfway. Neither of the duo could tell whether it was cloud or ivory sky that smudged the top of the mountain and concealed its summit. Neither of them wanted to know.

Sucking in sharp breaths, they began the climb and immediately felt the consequences. The wind bit at their faces and gnawed at their noses. Thorn could feel her eyes watering profusely and wondered if Tony (who had called dibs on a balaclava he’d found) was suffering as much. He was.

After walking for about an hour, they were shaking violently. When Tony’s ankle gave way and he almost backtracked down the slope, Thorn had pulled him close and kept an arm around his shoulders.   
“I… I c-can’t feel my ears,” he said, and she wondered whether he was trying to make a joke or not.   
“The cold I could stand, but this wind…”

As if somebody was watching over them, salvation presented itself to them in the form of a blue cave. It looked like it was beaten straight into the mountain and the wind whistled past it, enticing them closer to the entrance with its eerie song.

They hobbled closer and closer and were relieved to feel not warmth, but not blistering cold either. Pulling down their hoods, they looked each other over and brushed the ice and snow from their coats.   
“You okay?” Tony asked.   
“I’m holding together for now. You?”   
“Just about.”

“What are you doing here?” A third voice unexpectedly chimed in.

* * *

Bruce Banner looked frail; flecks of grey in his hair that Thorn hoped was snow, and he was wrapped in an animal pelt of some kind, otherwise wearing horridly large clothing that hung from his body like meat on a bone.

“How did you find me?” He asked, standing up. It was then that they saw how truly thin he’d become. Tony was elated. He became more animated in that minute than he’d been the entire trip. He rushed over to Bruce, who stumbled backwards, and wrapped him in a hug.

“Where have you been, old boy? The tower’s been missing you!” He smiled before hurrying over to Thorn and dragging her further inside. “You remember Barnes’ missus of course.”

Bruce said nothing as Tony pulled their hands together and forced them to shake. Thorn could sense the uneasiness in Bruce’s eyes – she’d seen it a thousand times.   
“Tony-”  
“This is fantastic. We’ve got the jet at the bottom of the hill. All your stuff is still in it, though Thorn has borrowed your blanket a couple of times. Seems you’re not the only one that it comforts-”  
“Tony, I don’t think-”  
“-although the longer we spend on this cruise, the more I think we need some way of making coffee. Lord knows you look like you need a drink. Well, we can figure that out later.”

Tony continued to ramble as he paced the cave. As usual, his mind was moving faster than his mouth. Thorn looked at the living conditions Bruce had made for himself. A few twigs arranged in a haphazard pile might have been a fire at some point, and various leather bags probably contained what provisions he’d collated. She wondered whether he moved around a lot, or whether he’d been here the entire time he’d been missing. His last assumed location was Fiji. The climate outside definitely was not.

“…then of course there’s the issue of getting you home,” he murmured, a hand on his chin. “I’m sure once we’ve got this whole leak situation sorted out then we’ll be welcomed back.”   
“There was a leak?” Bruce said, suddenly alarmed. Despite disappearing, his good heart still cared about the team he’d left behind. Thorn smiled sadly at him and realised that was probably the reason he’d left.

“Nonetheless, I doubt we’ve got long left. Imagine how much better off we’ll be with the incredible hulk fighting beside us again!”

That was it. Thorn snapped Tony’s name and silenced him, whilst Bruce sunk to the floor and pulled his head into his hands.   
“Sorry… I meant… Bruce,” he said, realising he’d gotten carried away again.

“You can’t tell anyone,” Banner said. His voice was soft and low, like the wind that continued to blow at the entrance of the cave. “You can’t tell anyone where I am.”

Tony’s brow lowered.   
“…what?”  
“You can’t tell anyone. I left for a reason, and seemingly a good one. I’m more of a risk to that team than I am an asset. I’m at war with myself every minute of every hour, and that’s not a mind that will benefit anyone. I need to… to stay away.”

Thorn noted the clenching of his fists and wondered whether he was just stressed or worse. Tony, however, didn’t seem to care.   
“Look at you, Banner! You’re not okay here. You’re just scraping along as best as you can – but if you come home-”

“No!” He yelled, slamming a hand against the ice behind him. Some of the stalactites at the top of the cave swayed precariously. Thorn felt like she was stood between two sides of battle. “If I’m here I can’t hurt anyone. There’s only snow and ice for me break. If I can’t end my own suffering, I can reduce everyone else’s. Maybe it’ll kill me. I don’t know; I don’t get to decide anymore.”

He looked up at Thorn before turning his gaze upon Tony, who was stood with folded arms and a sour expression.  
“Please, don’t tell anybody I’m here. It’s for the best.”

After a minute’s silence, in which Bruce’s words echoed and died in the depths of the cavern, Tony turned on his heel and stormed outside. Bruce bowed his head and retreated into a ball again.

Thorn didn’t know who to follow. She suspected that Tony wouldn’t go far, but she also didn’t know how far his volatilities could go. Instead, she chose to sit herself beside Bruce. She said nothing for a while, looking up at the roof of the cave.   
“We’ve… not really spoken before,” she began, seeing his head shift when he heard her speak.   
“No, we haven’t.”   
“But you were there after the crash. When I, uh…”  
“When you lost your memory,” he sighed, sitting up and pulling the fur a little tighter around him. “It happened, kid. If you’re gonna come to terms with that, you’ve got to get used to saying it out loud.”

Thorn smiled weakly and dropped her head.   
“There’s a leak inside the Avengers. They knew what we were going to do, and they tried to kidnap me when they found out.”   
“If you think that I’m going to-”  
“No, no,” she insisted. “I’m just… catching you up. You still care so I’m assuring you that we’re on top of it.”   
“Are you?”

Thorn bit her lip and looked him in the eye. For a man with such a horrifying… condition, he seemed worryingly normal. She remembered how he looked with his white coat on.   
“I think it might’ve been me. Unknowingly. Tony convinced me to talk to my brother about some stuff I’ve got going on and somebody was listening besides him. She killed him once he’d fulfilled his usefulness, and now she’s sent me and Stark on some wild goose chase. She made me relive something I’d never thought twice about. She gave me the names and the faces of the men I killed. Now, she’s sent me to the middle of nowhere, and I can only hope it’s because she wants me to perish in the cold.

“I should’ve done what you did. Taken myself away, somewhere that I could do no harm, and just…” Thorn sighed and placed her hands over her face. She’d just spilled her soul out to an almost-stranger and had still come no closer to figuring anything out. She’d only realised that it felt eons better now she had spoken. If only she hadn’t been such a melodramatic idiot, intent on keeping herself shut away; maybe this whole situation would’ve been different…

“I never know how to finish that sentence either,” Bruce admitted softly, placing a hand on her shoulder. “I keep convincing myself that I’ve done the right thing, that I’m better off here. But what am I doing? I’ve taken myself away, somewhere that I can do no harm, and I’m just… nothing. There is no end to that sentence. Not a good one anyway.”

Thorn peered at him from the gaps between her fingers. He smiled briefly. It was a good smile.   
“Don’t try and be sympathetic,” she begged. “We’ve got two very different situations, and I think yours is probably worse than mine.”

Bruce smiled again.   
“You’re one of the first people whose blatantly told me how bad I’ve got it. I assumed I was the only one who thought that. But look, just because one of us has it worse, doesn’t mean the other has got it good. We’re both messes. Just promise me you’ll fix yours. Fix yours because I don’t think I can fix mine.”

Thorn looked away from him again, and sighed. This is what Bucky had meant. He just wanted her to talk. Maybe he couldn’t help, or maybe he could – it didn’t matter. He needed to know so that they could fix something and they could do it together.

“There’s a building at the top of this hill,” Bruce said, crawling away and grabbing one of the leather pouches. He tossed it to her and watched her open it. There was a wealth of canned and air-tight food inside, something that neither her and Tony had thought about since they’d left. Her stomach growled fiercely. “I dare say that’s where your leak is taking you.”

She didn’t even bother to ask where he’d got the food. Thorn simply threw her arms around Bruce and thanked him profusely. He bid her good luck, with the familiar sad twinkle in his eyes, and she left the cave to find Tony. He was stood not too far away looking off into the distance. When he heard her feet crunching in the snow, he turned and scowled.

“Looks like the wind has let up,” she mused, noting the large stately house that could be seen faintly in the distance. She didn’t like the look of that hill.   
“Did you have a good bonding session with your new best friend?” He sneered. Thorn hit him upside the head.

“Would you stop it?” Tony rubbed the spot where she’d hit him. “You’re acting like a spoilt child, like we haven’t got bigger problems to worry about.”  
“I just… I don’t get why he wants to hide here. He was perfectly safe with us, with me in the tower.”   
“That’s not for you to decide. If you’re his friend, you’ll respect him and his decisions. Even if they’re the wrong ones.”

Tony looked Thorn up and down. Whatever Bruce had said to her had invigorated her character. This was the Autumn Thorn he’d been described by Bucky and Steve. This was a woman who was going to get the job done.

“Fine. I’ll keep his secret. I don’t like it, but I’ll do it.”

“Welcome to the adult world, Stark,” she smiled, turning on her heel and surpassing the mouth of the cave to begin the long hike upwards. Tony took one last glance at the cave where he knew his best friend was hiding before following her.

He spied the hill that she’d already begun to tackle.   
“We’re not walking up that, are we?”


	8. Chapter 8

It took 2 hours to reach the summit of the mountain. After much slipping and tripping and almost-falling, Tony and Thorn finally made it. Not that the sight was welcoming.

The mansion stretched high into the air, ominous and dark with its browning brickwork and its eerily dark windows. It looked like a huge dirty tombstone in a white graveyard. Tony was almost entirely sure he heard someone screaming but Thorn told him it was just the wind.

Either the resident wasn’t big on security or they simply didn’t expect any thieves to make it up the hill that had almost killed Tony. Alternatively, the house could contain something so horrific that it was its own security. Thorn wondered whether the leak lived here. But then why would they invite them?

Nothing made any sense.

Together, they pushed the great oak doors apart and stepped inside. Despite the fact that the wind -couldn’t reach them indoors, there was nothing warming about the house. It had candles but no light, and age but no dust. Something was very off about it. Thorn took Tony’s hand and tried to convince herself that she was comforting him rather than the other way around.

They walked around the grand foyer for a few moments, taking in the stupendous heights of the ceiling before making for the wooden staircase at the other end. They ascended a few floors and found themselves in a corridor. They peered in doorway after doorway, finding nothing but empty rooms. No furniture, no paintings – nothing. Long sweeping curtains often decorated the windows but aside from that the rooms were empty. If they were lucky, there was a wall made entirely of mirrors with a long barre across it, but that was it.

Eventually, they reached another staircase and climbed it. Thorn could feel her stomach turning with every step they took away from the nearest exit.

This staircase, however, didn’t take them into another corridor. The entire floor was its own room – a bedroom. Rows upon rows of beds had been organised across the hardwood floor, and not a single one was empty.

Tony pressed a finger to his lips – as if it hadn’t been obvious – and began stepping close to the nearest bed frame. He peered into the face of the girl sleeping in it, peaceful and calm. She looked young, about 11 or 12, not that Tony was looking for such details. Instead he was looking at the pair of handcuffs around the girl’s wrist. Her left arm was strapped to the metal pole at the head of her bed.

Tony’s face dropped.

He sprinted from the room, grabbing Thorn’s wrist and pulling her along behind him. They leapt down the first staircase, raced down the corridor, fell down the second stairway, and dashed out the front door again.

Tony didn’t stop running the entire way down the mountain. He’d let go of Thorn’s hand a long while back and she wondered how he hadn’t slipped as she stumbled behind him.

They skidded past Bruce’s cave and kept running, Thorn’s lungs burning with the cold air and the many questions she had. They eventually reached the quinjet. She’d never seen anyone so eager to start flying. They almost crashed into a nearby snow-covered aspen in the hurry that Tony took off.

Thorn hit the floor hard as Tony banked and shot off into the sky. That was the last straw.   
“What the hell is going on?” She yelled at him over the sound of the roaring engines. But Tony wasn’t listening. He leaned over towards the button that controlled the plane’s stealth mode and made to press it.

Thorn leapt forward and grabbed his hand.   
“What the _hell_ is going on?” She asked again, glaring right at him.

“That place…” he murmured, “I’ve only heard of it once and it is not somewhere we want to stick around.”  
“Then explain to me why we suddenly need to blow our cover just because you got cold feet!”

“Because if the person behind this is from there, then there’s only one person who can stop them – and I really hope she’s still hunting us.”

Tony wrenched his arm free and slammed the stealth mode button before Thorn could stop him.

* * *

For a while nothing happened. It was ominously quiet. Thorn was enraged but knew that turning stealth mode back on would be useless now. She fell obediently into the co-pilot seat and shut up, hoping that Tony knew what he was doing. He still refused to tell her what the building had been, stating that it wasn’t his story to tell. It seemed Thorn’s past was not the only one being dug into.

Thorn fell asleep a couple of time as they flew, but after her third time of stirring, she recognised the skyline they flew over. They were back.

She pulled a headset on as Natasha’s voice rung out over it.   
“MB 25389, you are cleared for landing.”

The jet’s nose rose slightly as it neared the ground and their reception thus far has been surprisingly civil. There were no men in black waiting to interrogate them, no blaring alarms. Nothing. Just Natasha.

She stood with her hands behind her back and her feet apart as the back of the plane opened up and the fugitives disembarked.   
“Welcome back,” she smirked as they got closer. Thorn was tugging at the ends of her sleeves anxiously.   
“That’s it?” Tony asked.   
“I figured that if you’d disabled stealth mode at all, you’d have a good – or very bad – reason. You might as well explain it first.”

“I told you she was good,” Tony smiled, nudging Thorn.   
“When did you say that?”   
“Well, I must’ve done. Because she is.”

They followed her for a while through various hallways and Thorn had never before felt as grateful to be home. Everything was familiar – the sights, the smells, the sounds – and after being holed up with Tony in a tin can for several days, it was refreshing to be back to normality.

There was only one sight she was missing.

Bucky was nowhere to be seen. Granted, they’d only run into Natasha so far but still, she thought that the news of her return might at least bring him forward. Was he really still upset? Was he really _that_ upset? Her stomach churned at the thought that he might be. This was not going to be an easy fix…

“No handcuffs this time?” Tony joked, waving his hands up and down to emphasise his point. He’d definitely lost the severity of his earlier mood.   
“No. We know that you’re not the leak.”   
“You do?”

Natasha waved her hand airily and said that she’d explain it better later. They walked for a bit longer before Natasha stopped, unlocked a door, and held it open for them.

“So, Stark,” she sighed, settling down on a chair opposite from them. Thorn recognised the interrogation room but she was just glad not to be on the other side of it. Or rather she hoped. The handcuffs, or lack thereof, were a good sign. “Why exactly did you come back?”

“We found something. Something… big, and bad. If any of my suspicions are correct then this leak isn’t your everyday teenage hacker.”  
“We thought as much too. Go on.”

“Nat, I’m serious. It’s not good. We went to the bank where they were holding Barnes-” Thorn winced. She really wanted to see Bucky, “-and she’d changed everything. Left us little hints: the IDs of some guys that Thorn offed, a burner phone, and some co-ordinates.”  
“You say ‘she’? You met her?”   
“Spoke to her,” Tony sighed. “She, uh… she killed Thorn’s brother.”

Natasha remained stoic where Tony slid his hand into Thorn’s. She smiled appreciatively at him.   
“Continue.”   
“We followed these co-ordinates and we found, uh-” Thorn squeezed his hand and shook her head. He held his own up and nodded.

“Nat, we found the Red Room. She’d sent us to the Red Room.”


	9. Chapter 9

Nat was equal parts terrified, angry, and upset.

Her fists looked fatal, curled up and white-knuckled. Yet her face was worryingly blank. She made no response for quite some time, instead choosing to stare at Tony fiercely.   
“You’re sure?” She then said quietly.

“Nat. The day you told me about those things… I knew how much trust in me that needed. I’ve never forgotten the details, out of respect for the fact that you told them to me.”

“That’s… really interesting.” Nat sighed. “Did you see anything else whilst you were there? Any clues about the leak?”   
“We didn’t stick around long enough to find out. As soon as I found out, I got us the hell out of there.”   
“Smart. So that’s it then? That’s all you’ve got? You didn’t find anything or anyone?”

Tony looked at Thorn and she knew that any sign of any hesitance would give Bruce away.   
“No,” she said. “That’s it.”

Nat released them from the room and immediately Thorn was enveloped in a hug. Wanda had apparently missed her. Though she wasn’t the first person she’d been hoping to see, Thorn was still glad of the company and reciprocated the hug tightly.   
“I missed you so much,” Wanda said. “I tried to tell them that you wouldn’t have done this but they wouldn’t listen! Kept saying they couldn’t be sure.”   
“Thank you, Wanda.”

Thorn asked about Bucky but the conversation moved swiftly on, Wanda dragging her towards the residential wing of the base with Tony on their heels.   
“The base has been on lockdown for a while so it’s nice to have company again.”   
“You’ve been alone?”   
“Not alone. Steve and-” Wanda’s eyes widened and she lowered her head for a moment, “-Steve has been checking in on me…”

Tony’s eyes narrowed as he observed her behaviour. Thorn looked over her shoulder at him but he shrugged.

“Just Steve?”   
“Yes.”  
“Are you sure?”   
“Yes!”

Somehow, Thorn didn’t quite believe her. They continued to walk until they reached Wanda’s room, where she informed Tony that there was a “No Boys Allowed” rule. He came in anyway after he reminded a quick-to-blush Wanda that Vision had likely been an exception to the rule many times.

He took a seat in the corner of the room and switched on the television, whilst Thorn and Wanda clambered onto the bed.   
“I’m so sorry this happened,” Thorn said quickly. “It’s all my fault. I did something a long time ago that started all of this.”  
“It’s still not your fault. You’re not who you were then. We can’t be held accountable for mistakes that were amended for.”

Thorn wished Bucky had been there. As good as Wanda was at reassuring her, she knew that he had been hurt most by this. She needed to see him; she needed to know that he was alright, that he forgave her.   
“Where’s James?” She asked Wanda who then began to chew her lip. Tony looked over up at the mention of Bucky.

“He’s, uh, down in the garage, fixing his suit.”   
“What?”

Tony intervened.   
“Not James _Rhodes_. She means Barnes. Come to think I haven’t seen him either. Nobody’s mentioned him since we got here and I thought he’d be the first to greet us.”

Wanda shuffled backwards on her bed but said nothing. Tony switched the television off.   
“Wanda?” Thorn asked. She didn’t have to read minds to know that she was hiding something.   
“I’m not supposed to say,” she murmured. “Nat told me not to say until she’d figured things out.”

Not only were Thorn and Tony now alarmed, they were concerned. What else had Nat hidden from them? She’d done nothing but ask questions when they’d arrived – perhaps they should’ve been asking things too…

“After you left, Nat continued to look for the leak. She interrogated everyone, checked everything. The place was clean. After that, everyone started to think you might’ve been the leak after all.” Thorn wanted to explain that she had been the leak without realising it. Every time she’d called her brother… _Her brother_. Now wasn’t the time. What was Wanda hiding?

“But she needn’t have bothered. W-we got a call. Or rather, _he_ did.” She couldn’t even say his name. “The leak, whoever it was, called him. We don’t know what they said, he wouldn’t let us listen, but he had a white face. His eyes were… steady. It didn’t look good; I could feel the worry coming off of him.”

Wanda stopped speaking and buried her head in her arms which had gathered her knees against her chest.   
“And?” Thorn said, lost for words and breath.   
“And-”

Vision appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, and scared the daylights out of everyone in the room. Tony recoiled, swearing multiple things, and stood up to walk around. Thorn jumped out of her skin. Wanda seemed to be the only one unnerved by his sudden appearance, leaping from the bed and throwing herself into his arms.

“I sensed Miss Wanda’s distress. Is everything alright?” He asked, looking around the room.   
“Yes, Vis. Everything is fine,” she smiled up at him, though he wasn’t convinced. Vision wasn’t adept at reading people’s faces yet, but he’d been making good progress with reading Wanda – and she most definitely was not fine.

He placed a hand on her back and began to lead her from the room, with the intention of cooking something to cheer her up. However, just before they left, Wanda looked over her shoulder at Thorn.   
“He’s gone,” she murmured. “He left in the night.”

* * *

Thorn slammed the door to her room, and clutched at her throat. Each breath felt like she’d swallowed needles and no matter how much she clawed, they wouldn’t come out.

She collapsed to her knees and tucked her head in, ignoring the sounds of Tony banging on the door to focus on breathing. When she finally looked up again, her watery eyes found the smudged image of the 3 people she’d least like to see.

“It’s alright. This was going to happen,” The STAR agent said. The Asset leaned against her dresser, watching her venomously.   
“Of course it was. She couldn’t keep herself safe, how was she going to protect him?”   
“Maybe he’ll forget about it and come back,” chimed the Amnesiac.

“Just… shut up, all of you, shut up,” she hissed, trying to ignore the bile rising in her throat. Maybe throwing up would remove the needles in her lungs.   
“What are you gonna do if we don’t? We can’t go anywhere. We’re stuck just like you. Might as well get used to it,” the Asset leered, moving closer and leaning into Thorn’s face.

She glared back, until she’d mustered enough courage to stand without shaking legs. In the back of her mind she could hear Tony, still on the other side of the door, asking her to talk to him.

“It’s all my fault,” she said, starting the first conversation she’d willingly participated in with her demons.  
“Yes,” sneered the Asset, “it is. The question is: what are you going to do about it? Any good HYDRA agent knows-”  
“I am _not_ HYDRA, nor will I ever be.”

“Because she’s a STAR agent,” said the respective demon. “She’s built for better things. Being an agent started this feud, it’s time that acting like one ended it.”   
“Can we not just forget this ever happened and move on?” said the Amnesiac, obviously the more peaceful of the trio.   
“I’m not a STAR agent anymore, I’m not HYDRA, and I’m not going to forget about it.”

“Then what use are we?” snapped all three at once. The combination of all of their voices made for a terrifying harmony.   
“You are no use. You have no use to me. It’s time you got used to it, or pissed off. All 3 of you.”

“Three?” The Asset said, tilting her head. The STAR agent blinked. “Just three, are you sure about that? Is there nobody you’ve forgotten?”

Thorn turned as a shadow melted out of the wall. It sunk to the floor in a puddle of black and rose into the sky, gaining colour and form. Its skin changed from black to grey to white. Very white.

The corpse of her brother stared at her with wide empty eyes, and his jaw hung loosely from his mouth.   
“Don’t you get it?” The Asset smirked. “You have demons, you have enemies, and they’re finally catching up to you. They’re coming for you and there’s nothing you can do about it.”  
“You can’t forget them,” said the Amnesiac.   
“We’re here to stay.”

Thorn crumbled to the ground as her brother loomed closer, the wind outside seeming to howl the words, ‘why didn’t you save me?’

* * *

Steve followed Tony down the corridor, the latter of whom was wringing his hands nervously.   
“Ever since she heard about Barnes, she won’t come out of her room. I thought I heard her talking to herself but I don’t know anymore.”

They reached the door and Steve rapped his knuckles gently on it. No reply.   
“ _That’s_ your technique?” Tony hissed, “I’ve been doing that for 10 minutes – I thought you’d kick the door in or something!”  
“Can’t you see that’d be the least productive thing for her right now? She needs peace and busting in there won’t help.”

“I’m going to get Nat. At least she might have something more productive to say.”  
“Go do that. We’ve been working on a plan to find Bucky that would be good for her to hear.”

By the time Tony had fetched Nat, Steve had managed to convince Thorn to open the door. He was sat on her bed with his arm around her, and her head in his neck. Tony tried not to be offended.

The Avengers sat around her at various levels – Steve sitting, Tony leaning against the door, and Nat cross-legged on the floor – and talked to her gently. Her eyes were red and she looked unwell.

“We’ve got a plan,” Nat said.  
“Steve told me.”   
“Alright, well, good. We just… We can’t enact that plan until we know where Barnes has gone, or where I suspect he’s being held.”

“You think he turned himself in?”   
“It would explain why he left after the leak called. I expect he was blackmailed.”

Thorn bit her lip and Steve gave her a small squeeze of reassurance.   
“What would you need from me?”   
“Based on what you told me earlier, the only way we know to call this woman is… through your brother.”

Against her better judgement, Thorn dialled the number and put it on loudspeaker. For a while it looked as though it might ring out but after the tone rang 4 times, there was the sound of silence.   
“Miss Thorn, I presume?”

Steve’s jaw clenched. Thorn swallowed before speaking.   
“Who am I speaking to?”   
“Ava May. Devin May was my father. _Was_.”

Natasha signalled for her to keep going. The strange images on the laptop to her left told her she was tracing the call.   
“I understand that you called Bucky Barnes.”   
“Yes, I did.”

More silence. The girl was being honest, but also concise.   
“What did you tell him? Where did he go?”   
“He’s here with me-” Steve had to hold Thorn down as she was about to go ballistic, “-and he’s being such a good boy. All I told him was that you’d be joining me also, and that if he wanted to do the right thing, he’d tag along.”

“What makes you think I am going to join you?” The voice on the other end of the phone got suddenly louder and more muffled. She’d got closer to the phone.   
“Because if you don’t, I will tear him apart, limb by limb, until you can hear his screams across the city of New York. I will rip him away from you, just as you did me, until you beg for the mercy you won’t get.

“When my father died, I was left alone. No mother. Nobody. I was approached by the men he used to work for – HYDRA. They gave me a friend who protected me, and they told me to train, sending me to Miss Romanoff’s school for killer children. The Red Room, I believe you call it. I was only there a year before HYDRA fell, my father’s legacy dying with it. Myself and my friend were the only remaining members so far as we know. I don’t care anyway. I’m not HYDRA, I never will be. I only care that the people who brought about my father’s death get what they deserve. Be it you, HYDRA, or SHIELD. All of you will burn.

“Thankfully, somebody kindly uploaded several files to the internet. I learned all about you, and your family. At first I was going to hold your brother to ransom, and bring you to me that way, but then you kept talking and talking and I learnt so much. I decided to make things a little more interesting. Kidnapping SHIELD agents was so much fun. It certainly got your attention and they were so useful to me. I am hoping that their sacrifices won’t be in vain.

“Miss Thorn – or should I call you Emma? – I expect by now you’ll realise that any attempt to fight would be futile. All I ask is that you come and find me. Come and talk to me and I will let Barnes go. He will be alive, I assure you. You’re the only person I want. Nobody else needs to die.”

After Ava’s monologue ended, there was silence. Nat had long forgotten about tracing the call, and everyone’s eyes were on the phone that now made no noise. Thorn was also surprisingly quiet, and calm. She shed one single tear before taking a deep breath and swallowing her fear.   
“How will I find you?”

“I’m sure Miss Romanoff has taken care of that for you,” Ava said sweetly before hanging up.

Sure enough, Nat’s laptop was flashing green. She almost didn’t want to look at the location, but she owed it to everyone to keep going.   
“The… The Hudson River…” she murmured. “She’s in a building by the Hudson River.”

Everyone remembered the significance of the location. Of course it wouldn’t have been anywhere else. They could still hear the splashing of the helicarrier in the water.   
“Alright, team,” Steve said stoically. “Let’s suit up.”


	10. Chapter 10

Thorn continued to walk along the docks. Puddles lit up with moon and lamp light which brightened the night. She clutched the edges of her coat a little tighter.

“Where am I going?” She whispered, seemingly to herself. The voice in her ear replied, “Just up here.”

Steve couldn’t imagine how she continued to walk. The knowledge that she was walking into the enemies’ hands should have been enough to make her reluctant but every step was fuelled by passion and drive, both admirable qualities.

He and Nat were sat in a dark room in the Avengers base. A singular bulb swung from the ceiling and cast light on their faces. Every so often, when it swung in the right direction, Tony could be seen in the corner, watching anxiously. The room had been used by Clint to store all the old spy-tech he had. Though Tony had protested and suggested a more modern approach, both Steve and Natasha agreed that there was no guarantee Ava May wouldn’t know about these techniques. Best to go back to basics. They couldn’t be sure what she didn’t know.

As Thorn’s foot splashed into yet another puddle, everyone waited. A sign, a sound. Something. Any indication that Ava had noticed Thorn and would come forward.

Soon enough, they got one.

Where there had once been dimly lit darkness, there was a sudden wash of light. As far as Thorn could see (and it wasn’t easy – she’d almost been blinded by the sudden lighting), there were only two lights that flooded her vision and lit her up like the sun.

Soon enough, the sound of a metal screeching echoed into the air, and two silhouettes were highlighted in the now open door. One was significantly taller and broader than the other, marching forward with an ominous lack of speed. The latter silhouette seemed almost dainty, and seemed to sway contentedly with each step.

Ava May stepped out of the shadows and into the light. Her dirty blonde hair was scraped into two plaits on either side of her head. She had a small, screwed up mouth that sat under a well-freckled nose. Two oceans of blue stared fiercely at Thorn.

On Ava’s left was a tall, burly man with no hair on his head but a bristling beard. His eyes were not as intense, seeming to take in the surroundings rather than the woman before him.

“So, you came,” Ava said. When she spoke, Thorn realised just how young she was. There was no way she could be older than 14.   
“You… You didn’t really give me a choice.”

“I did, but you must be too stupid to see it.”   
“I’m not stupid.”  
“Whatever you say!”

This girl was perhaps one of the most aggravating people Thorn had ever known. She knew just how to manipulate and irritate, just as teenagers do, but there was also a maleficent undertone that unsettled Thorn.   
“At least you came alone. That _was_ smart of you.”

“Where’s Bucky?” Thorn snapped. She didn’t need to anticipate that referring to the girl’s age would only incite her anger.   
“He’s inside. I can show you, if you want,” Ava smiled. It was the sickeningly sweet smile of a girl who has you in the palm of her hand. Thorn swallowed before nodding. The burly man turned around with Ava and they began to walk indoors.

“Wait,” Thorn called, and this stopped both Ava in her tracks. The burly man wasn’t as quick to slow down.

Thorn could feel the blood rushing around her. She touched her right ear and which warmed her fingertips. She was terrified.

Nat began to worry also. She heard the kerfuffle of noise as Thorn pulled the radio from her ear.   
“No, no, no! What is she doing?” She asked, certainly turning knobs and dials in a futile effort to communicate with Thorn. Steve watched on, biting his lip.

“What’s that?” Ava asked, spotting the pea-sized device in Thorn’s hand as the latter stared at it.   
“I… I wasn’t alone.” Thorn murmured.   
“Pardon?”   
“I wasn’t alone.”

Ava ground her teeth but Thorn kept speaking.   
“The Avengers… They’re listening,” she explained – before tossing the hearing device to the foot of the burly man. “But not any more.”

“No! You idiot!” Nat cried, shaking the big radio in front of her. Tony dropped his head into his hands. Ava glared at the listening device, until her eyes were drawn to a much more interesting thing.

Thorn was slowly lowering herself to the ground, her hands raised and her eyes wet.   
“Please,” she whispered, “please don’t hurt him. I just want him back. This whole thing is my fault and I’ll do whatever you want. Please…”

Ava didn’t quite know how to react at first. She was amazed that Thorn had brought a listening device (something she’d forgotten about) and even more so when she’d willingly given it up, betraying the World’s Mightiest Heroes. It was almost too easy.   
“Maybe you aren’t dumb…” She murmured, before nodding at the cowering woman. Thorn scrambled to her feet and stepped closer.

Just before following them inside, the burly man put his great big foot over the bug and crushed it with a satisfying crunch.

The minute the signal cut out, Steve stood up with a smirk.   
“Okay, team. Suit up.”

* * *

Thorn tucked her hands under her armpits as she walked. The warehouse was huge and ominous, and every footstep seemed to echo 4 times, and that wasn’t even counting the fact that there were three people walking.

Steve’s plan had been simple. Let Nat make up the plan, but be sure to take the listening device in. Apparently it wasn’t just Clint who’d been stocking old tech in the boiler room. After locating some familiar toys whilst rummaging through SSR boxes, Steve had moved them to safekeeping. The listening device, once crushed, released a silent and odourless gas that tampered with radar. He assumed that Thorn throwing it to the ground would be enough to trigger it but the capsule hadn’t broken.

Thankfully the big oaf had done Steve’s job for him.

It also a way of throwing Ava off the scent. If she had any suspicions about Thorn’s loyalties and intentions, they were dissipated by her apparent surrender. Nat’s ignorance to the situation had been accidental. She’d intended to sneak in using her own skills and the first time he’d suggested using his tech, she’d shrugged it off. So he’d deceived her. After being upset, she was impressed.

After infiltrating, the plan was for Steve to get in and find Bucky whilst Nat helped Thorn to escape once she’d figured out what Ava’s own intentions were. Though Tony was eager to help, a certain amount of stealth was required for this heist that he simply didn’t possess. Reluctantly he stayed back, opting instead to fly the quinjet that would bring them all home. Wanda wasn’t up to helping. Vision had declared her as unhealthily stressed.

Thorn could picture him lowering the craft somewhere nearby, ready for evac once this whole mess was dealt with. That image alone gave her hope. She followed Ava for a bit further until something broke through her daze.

A moan.

The further they walked, the louder it got and soon there were screams and yells bursting into the atmosphere.   
“I thought he was supposed to be kept quiet,” Ava sighed.   
“I imagine there’s only so much he can tolerate.” Tolerate? Thorn thought. She could feel herself getting angry now. If they’d lain a finger on Bucky…

But she couldn’t have anticipated how much worse it truly was.

Bucky’s restraints were taut and well-worn, a set on both his arms and his ankles. He was spread like a starfish across the murky floor. Around his wrists, it was difficult to see where the ropes started and he began, so much blood caked them. Another was wrapped around his head and tucked between his teeth, though it did little to mask his cries. The pinnacle? There were no torture devices to be seen.

Instead, there was a single funnel, attached to the roof, that frequently dripped a little bit of water onto Bucky’s forehead. Drip. Drip. Drip. It was horrific, watching the way he writhed every time the water splashed onto his skull.

Thorn choked on a sob, before leaping into the room and tugging at the restraints. Luckily they had long lost their strength and broke at her touch. Bucky was dragged sluggishly from the water and into her lap, where she placed her forehead against his own with the hope of reassuring him.

Eventually he seemed to come out of his stupor and recognise her. His voice was incapable of saying it, but she knew that her name was on the edge of his tongue.   
“It’s me,” she wept. “It’s me… I’m so sorry, James… I’m sorry I left.”

Ava and her bodyguard watched for a moment, letting the couple soak in each other’s company, until eventually the former sighed and yawned.   
“I’m bored now. Can we move on?”

The body guard nodded and stepped forward, he ripped Thorn away from Bucky and lifted the weak man over his shoulder. Thorn followed behind him so that she could keep an eye on Bucky. If he was with her and Ava, there was no way that Steve would be able to rescue him. It would put their whole plan on hold.

Forcing herself not to think of such things, she followed Ava and her bodyguard into a large hall in the centre of the building. In the middle was a podium containing a large yet almost familiar machine. It looked like a big black dentists’ chair with various machines and instruments hovering over the seat in the centre.

“That’s…”  
“No, it’s not. It looks like it, and I’m hoping it’ll do much the same thing, but it’s not the same one, no,” Ava huffed. She seemed incredibly disgruntled by the fact that it wasn’t the same one.

“You see we tried to get a hold of the original – the machine that wiped the Winter Soldier’s memories – but there was no finding it. So I made my own. Daddy had a lot of money to leave me when he died and HYDRA’s file were all on the internet. It was simply a case of putting the right parts in the right place.

“You see, Miss Thorn, I decided that the only suitable punishment for you was to put you through what Mr Barnes here endured. To take you back to the fateful day where you ruined everything. Where you shot my father.” In that moment, Thorn saw how truly young Ava was. That she was a scared, spoilt little girl simply to trying to make up for the fact that she was alone – even if her coping mechanisms had been twisted. She didn’t doubt that the burly HYDRA guard had something to do with that…

“We tested it on a couple of your SHIELD agents, to see if it would work, but it’s not quite right. Still, what harm could it do to try anyway? You’re going to be the next best weapon this world has ever seen, and I’m going to use you. SHIELD, HYDRA, we’ll take it all down. Make everyone who put my father in that place pay for it.”

Thorn’s breathing was deep and loud. She was still terrified. This was the part of the plan where Nat should’ve have come bursting in and saved her. She was too weak and scared to do it herself now. It had all gone a little too quickly – Steve and Nat probably weren’t even in the quinjet yet.

“What… What makes you think I will get in there?” She stammered, almost not wanting to know the answer but simultaneously being aware that she had to stall. Somehow.   
“I’d have thought it was obvious,” Ava pouted. “Either you do – or he does.”

Thorn turned and watched as Bucky was dropped from the burly man’s shoulders. He hit the ground and the air soared out of him.

So this is it, she thought to herself. This is how it ends.

She turned to the machine again. It not only looked familiar to her now, it seemed to beckon, shrouded in light. The 3 figments of herself stood at the top of the podium, each with a hand on some part of the machine. They knew as well. They knew she had no choice.

“It’s the right thing to do,” said the STAR agent.   
“For the glory of HYDRA,” said the Asset.

The Amnesiac looked down for a moment before catching her gaze.   
“It’ll help you forget,” she whispered. Despite how sure they all sounded, their faces were sullen and morose. They knew it was the ultimate sacrifice for each of their causes. The one thing they’d all agree on. Thorn no longer had the energy to disagree any more.

She climbed the steps, one by one, and ignored the sounds of Bucky’s protests. He couldn’t understand that she was doing this _for_ him. Thorn couldn’t allow him to go through it again.

Steve and Nat were on their way, at least. They would fix things. That was the plan, after all! They’d make everything alright, even if she couldn’t.

Bucky’s mouth moved vehemently, screaming words that Thorn refused to hear. Instead, only Ava spoke.   
“Making the smart choice.”

“You have no idea what kind of choice I’m making,” Thorn growled. This seemed to aggravate her even more.   
“At least you had one!”

Thorn looked over her shoulder. Bucky was struggling towards her, reaching out an arm and trying to crawl across the floor.   
“Promise me you won’t hurt him,” she said as she lowered herself into the seat. A pair of metal cuffs snapped around her arms and legs.

“Bite this,” Ava said, placing a gum shield between her teeth.   
“May. Promise me, you won’t hurt him.”

The various mechanisms on the machine hummed and whirred. Some of them moved closer – specifically two metal plates which appeared either side of her head.   
“Emma!” Bucky managed to croak before the electricity sputtered into her skull and the screaming began.

He yelled various other things as the burly man dragged him back to his chamber.

* * *

Bucky had seen visions of his friends so many times that he wasn’t able to tell when the real thing broke inside and rescued him. Even as Steve lifted him up and pulled him along, Bucky was too far gone. His mind was a mess; his words were a jumble.

He couldn’t even tell Steve that Thorn needed their help.


	11. Chapter 11

Bucky’s eyes were made of lead. It felt as though he’d need a grappling hook to pull them up, but incredibly he was able to crack them open slightly.

The blinding lights were aptly named as they forced their way into his vision and scarred it with white. He groaned and rolled over, clamping his eyes shut again before trying for a second time to wake up. He felt a gentle hand on his shoulder and sucked in a breath, suddenly hopeful as to the company he’d gained.

Bucky didn’t mean to feel disappointed when he saw Steve smiling down at him. He should’ve been very happy; both of them were alive and well and safe.

But where was Thorn?

He remembered seeing visions of her, and he even thought that he remembered her presence towards the end of his torment, but honestly everything was blurred together from his time in the cell.

Everything from the pain to the… pain… and the more pain… Everything had been pain. He could feel each drip of the water on his skull: pounding, drumming, beating into his forehead. His skull was crumbling and caving in.

“-cky? Bucky?” He could feel Steve’s gentle touch beginning to increase in desperation as he shook him to his senses. Bucky wanted to say something in response but his words came out as an exhausted slur.

Steve was just happy to see him responding to him again; he’d always been able to see when he was out of focus.   
“I’m…”   
“Good,” said Steve. “That’s really good.”

Dr Cho had been tending to Bucky whilst he was out, and Steve relayed some of the concerns she’d had for when he woke up. Did he feel sick or nauseous? Was his memory intact? Was anything painful or sore?

After dismissing all his questions, Bucky tried to sit up but his head was still swimming. He could feel the hole that wasn’t in his head, exposing his brain for all to see. He shook it away and gulped down some of the water that Steve was holding out to him.

“Where’s…” His words abandoned him again.   
“Vision’s with Wanda in her room, Tony and Natasha are discussing what happened, and Cho is sorting out paperwork.”

“That’s not…”   
“Hm?”  
“That’s… not… who…”

Steve’s lips pursed. He didn’t say anything. This far he’d been able to figure out what Bucky wanted to say. Now he’d either lost that capability altogether, or he was avoiding the question. Nonetheless, it was agitating Bucky.

“Where’s…” he felt short of breath and hot, “where is…”

“I couldn’t find her,” chimed another voice. Both Steve and Bucky turned around to see Natasha’s lithe figure leaning against the doorframe. She pouted with disgruntlement before sighing and stepping further into the room. Steve winced as he watched Bucky struggle to sit up.

“What.. do you mean…you couldn’t…” With all of his anger, Bucky was finding breath again.   
“They left. I don’t know how or when but they were not there when I arrived. Not even a trace of them. Believe me when I say I looked – it’s my job, okay? I know what I’m doing.”

Natasha was pacing the room now, one of her hands on the back of her neck.   
“I just… I’m sorry.”

Though Bucky wanted to be mad, he just couldn’t. It was the first time he’d seen Natasha distressed or mildly vulnerable.   
“Okay…” He sighed, leaning back into a pillow and placing his hands in his lap. She’d looked. She hadn’t found her, but she’d looked. He couldn’t hold that against her.

Natasha left shortly afterwards and returned with the others. Tony sat at the end of Bucky’s bed with his feet in Steve’s lap, whilst Natasha continued to walk the room. Wanda lingered by the door with Vision at her side. Bucky thought he could see her hand in his but he wasn’t sure.

“We’ve got to find her,” Natasha said for the umpteenth time. She seemed to be sure of her goal but lacking any idea of its execution.   
“But how?” Tony groaned, letting his head fall back. It also wasn’t the first time he’d asked that question either. Steve pushed his feet playfully.   
“I’m still figuring it out.”

She continued to pace the room until Wanda’s nerves gave way and Vision led her away to somewhere calmer. Bucky was now certain they’d been holding hands.

“We called her brother’s phone but she’s not picking it up anymore. She hasn’t reached out to us or tried to taunt us. It’s almost as if-”  
“-she’s gotten everything she wanted,” Steve nodded. Despite their conclusion, he was painfully aware that it brought nothing else to light. They were still floundering.

“Maybe I could-”  
“No,” Natasha snapped. “You’re going to suggest that you get out of that bed – maybe to do something daring, or bold, or even incredibly stupid. I don’t care. You aren’t well. You stay put.”   
“You make it sound like you actually care about me,” he chuckled. It hadn’t meant to come across so brash but nonetheless, Nat’s fists were curled up and her jaw tense.

“I’m not suggesting I go on my own,” he said, keeping his voice low so as not to irritate Nat further, “I just think that… I was used as bait before. Maybe I could do it again.”

Tony shook his head now.   
“No, I don’t think that will work. You were used as bait for _Emma_ last time.”

Bucky tried not to let it get to him that Tony had called her Emma.

“Now that this girl has got what she wants, there’ll be no calling her out until she’s ready.”  
“But we’re the Avengers! We’re supposed to save people.”   
“We normally have more intel. A trail we can follow or some information to call upon. We have nothing, now. Literally nothing.”

Bucky had begun to breathe heavily.   
“What if I remember something?”   
“Do you?” Nat asked, and he faltered. Every thought he’d ever had hid from him like a bug from a candle.

“I… There was a machine.”  
“A machine?”   
“Yeah. It was familiar but… wrong.”

Tony pulled out his phone, hoping that his hunch was right. In all of his travelling, he’d picked up on all the tech he’d witnessed. The majority of it was in the quinjet, but he’d also seen the looping monitor, and…

“This machine?” He asked, showing him the picture of the Winter Soldier having his memories wiped. Bucky flinched and his nose screwed up.   
“That’s it.”

“What could May gain from wiping Thorn’s memory?” Nat asked. Bucky could see the cogs turning in her head.   
“The same thing Hydra gained from wiping the Winter Soldier’s,” Steve realised. “An empty canvas. A weapon.”

Silence fell upon the room with the discovery. This had happened to Thorn before – she’d been used as a weapon, and afterwards her memories had been lost to her. How did the saying go? _Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it._

“If she’s got a weapon,” mused Nat, “then why hasn’t she used it yet?” Tony looked at Steve who shrugged. Bucky, however, wanted to throw up. Why is it that he was the only person seemingly affected by these discoveries?   
“Because it doesn’t work!”

Everyone turned to him.   
“When we were there together, May had explained why she’d kidnapped all those SHIELD agents. She’d been testing on them as payback for getting her father killed-”  
“But they didn’t-”  
“-except the ones who’d been tested on had either died or gone mad.”

Silence. Again. Thorn couldn’t be dead… could she? Surely May would’ve gloated, held her head on a spear, as she’d done the whole time.

Unfortunately, their answer came too soon. Far too soon. Ignorance truly would’ve been bliss, in comparison to what came next.

A teary Wanda – again followed by Vision – ran into the room, holding one of the tablets Maria typically used for mission briefings.   
“Wanda, what-”  
“It’s Thorn,” she sniffed. Vision placed a hand on her shoulder as she took a large and shaky breath.

“She’s… She’s…”

Bowing her head and sucking in another breath, she held out the tablet which Natasha took.   
“I found her.”

The screen was your typical news programme. The ribbon at the bottom read breaking news, whilst other, less-important news scrolled along at the bottom. The footage was slightly grainy and clearly taken from a helicopter that juddered above the skyscrapers.

At the centre of the screen was the Autumn Thorn.

How it had been possible for one woman to cause so much damage, she didn’t know. But it had happened. Thorn had an arsenal of weapons strapped to her, and Natasha could’ve sworn that her mouth was moving, like she was talking (or yelling) at someone quite vehemently. However, nobody was there. Any and all citizens had fled the burning buildings and broken pavements.

Natasha watched as Thorn leapt forward like an animal and pulled a large cannon from her back. The explosion sent her flying backwards. Her back smacked against a pile of rubble not 3 feet away. Her attacks were wild and uncoordinated. They had no rationale or thought pattern. They were just… mad.

“She’s on the upper west side,” Natasha stated, and immediately Tony and Steve were up and heading out the room. Wanda turned and hugged Vision furiously, clearly not coping well at all. He placed his hand softly on the back of her head and stroked her hair. He understood how this must be affecting her. Thorn was an incredibly close friend to her.

When Bucky sluggishly kicked his legs over the side of the bed, however, the couple froze.   
“What’re you doing?” Wanda asked. The other three had long since left the room.   
“What do you think?” He grunted as a spike of pain shot up his back. “I’m going with them.”

“Mr Barnes,” Vision began, floating towards Bucky and obligingly helping him to his feet, “I don’t think you are in a fit state for travel, let alone combat of any sort.”   
“I’m not gonna fight anybody.”   
“I didn’t mean physical combat.”

When Bucky knitted his brows, Vision explained.   
“Miss Thorn is important to you, and I fear that the outcome of this mission may cause a string of moral dilemmas for you. I suspect that Miss Romanoff would agree when I say that your interference might… jeopardise things.”

Though he wanted to protest, Bucky also knew that Vision was also right.   
“That doesn’t mean I’m not going. I need to see her. I can’t promise I won’t get involved, and I can’t say that I won’t want to do something, but you honestly cannot expect me to sit here whilst she’s out there. She’s the woman I…”

Wanda felt herself teetering on that final word. Bucky let his shoulders drop.   
“The woman I love. The woman I want to marry.” He’d never had such trouble admitting it before, but a lot had changed. Thankfully, his feelings hadn’t. “I don’t know if you’d understand,” he said.

Vision looked over his shoulder at Wanda.   
“Actually,” he said calmly, “I think I do.”

* * *

Natasha, Steve, and Tony were suited up and ready to go.   
“We can neutralise this quickly and be home before the sun goes down,” Natasha stated aloud. The three of them marched uniformly into the back of the quinjet with steadfast and professional faces.

“I want her home of her own accord. We use force as a last resort,” she continued.   
“What sort of force are we talking here?”   
“We knock her out. This is a problem that we can fix, but to do it we’ve gotta have her somewhere safe; contained.”

“That sounds like a plan to me,” said Bucky as he stood up and stepped out of the shadows. He was only wearing a pair of combat trousers and boots, with a form-fitting top under a jacket. His hands were in his pockets. He looked surprisingly relaxed.

He sensed the oncoming protests and held up his hands.   
“I’m not going to intervene. If you think I should stay out of the way then I will, but… I have to see her. When you get her on board, I want to be here.”

Nobody said a word. Instead Nat and Tony looked to Steve as if it was his decision to make. He knew Bucky best. He knew what would be sensible. He knew how it would affect the mission.

“You can come, but don’t do anything that might get you hurt.”

Bucky smiled appreciatively, and lowered himself back his seat before buckling in. Steve sat next to him but slid a pistol into his hand.   
“We don’t know what we’re walking into. You should still be able to defend yourself.”

Nat frowned slightly but shrugged it off before jumping into the pilot seat. The Iron Man suit made its usual whirring and hissing as Tony grabbed a support.   
“Ready, boys?” Nat called out as the jet whirred to life.


	12. Chapter 12

Natasha landed the quinjet hastily in the abandoned city. Everybody could hear the destruction taking place before they saw it. Luckily, the only thing missing was the sound of terror. Hopefully, everybody had escaped the area.

The wind howled as Steve, Tony, and Natasha stepped outside. Bucky followed them part of the way, taking alarm when he saw Natasha shoulder a sniper rifle.   
“It’s a very, _very_ last resort,” she said, though it did little to reassure him. Before he could make any more protests, she was away, heading for the nearest (albeit weakest looking) building to ascend.

“She’ll be alright,” Steve smiled briskly.   
“You promise?”   
“If I have to bring her in myself, I’ll get her out of there.”

Bucky let out a shaky breath and folded his arms. Tony called out to Steve, but both men heard the concern in his voice. They stepped out from behind the quinjet and surveyed the damage. Buildings had holes in them, small fires were flickering left and right, and in the midst of the chaos stood Autumn Thorn.

There were a few overturned police cars on the side of the road but at word of the Avengers’ arrival, the rest of the forces had retreated. Thorn was panting heavily next to the sad-looking vehicles. She still had a worrying amount of weaponry on her person – ranging from knifes and daggers to grenades and the rocket launcher still in her hands.

The look in her eyes was primal. She was everywhere and nowhere at once. If the trio hadn’t been so worried, they’d be terrified. She flinched every now and then and looked in varying directions, and confirmed Natasha’s suspicions by talking to people who weren’t there.

“She’s…”   
“The machine didn’t work,” Steve nodded. “She’s not well at all.”

Bucky said nothing. He could feel his heart breaking in his chest as he watched a completely unravelled Emma lose her senses right in front of him. It was worse knowing he’d promised to do nothing about it.

He hadn’t been watching her long when she began to talk louder and louder. She screamed, “SHUT UP!” before tossing the grenade launcher into a ditch and pulling at her own hair. She stumbled backwards and whimpered, terrified, before pulling out an assault rifle and letting it rip up the side of a building.

She continued to flinch and turn, like she was shooting targets that nobody else could see. The targets kept moving around and taunting her, turning Thorn in circles as she cried and tried to hit them.   
“She’s gonna kill herself before we can save her,” Tony said, worriedly. He’d grown closer with Thorn over the past few days and would be damned if it went to waste now.

He made to step forward and intercept, when Steve thrust his shield out and stopped him. When he turned to look at him, Steve pointed to a rooftop on the other side of the street. Two figures stood on top – one incredibly tall, the other small and dainty…

“Son of a bitch,” he growled. The audacity of this girl! “That spoilt brat had the gall to stand and watch as Thorn goes batshit. I’m gonna-” Once again, Steve’s shield hit the metal of the Iron Man suit.   
“You get Thorn. You’re a recent memory for her. She’ll know you – and if she tries anything you’re better protected. I’ll get May.”

And just like that Steve shot off towards the bottom of the tall building. Only Tony and Bucky remained.   
“Steve promised me she’d be alright,” Bucky said to him.   
“I’m not going to do that,” Tony replied. “Because I think both you and I know there’s a chance she might not be.”

“You know what she’s been through. You spoke to her all those times.”  
“She’s got demons, Barnes. A lot of ‘em. I reckon that’s what is taunting her now. She’s got all these voices in her head and they’re only just catching up to her. They’re loud and they’re pushy and now she doesn’t know how to shut them up.”

Bucky seemed to understand.   
“You helped her. When she didn’t want to tell me, you helped her.”  
“She only ever wanted to protect you. All I did was make sure she protected herself too.”   
“Nonetheless… Thank you.”

The men cordially shook hands before Tony took the necessary steps towards Thorn. As he got closer, he saw her face better. The machine had taken its toll and distorted her physically. Lines scarred her face and her eyes were hollow. Beads of sweat decorated her crimson face like jewels on a pillow.

Her head whirled around when she heard him approaching. She was looking at him over her shoulder, her arched back and heavy breaths making her seem like a newly turned werewolf. Mirroring the action, Tony peered back and saw that the roof of the crumbling building was distinctly Natasha-free. He was currently on his own. Ava May and her bodyguard also watched, blissfully and cruelly unaware of Steve’s nearing presence several floors beneath them.

Tony’s mask slid up.   
“Emma…?”

Immediately, her face softened and a glimpse of the woman Tony had gotten to know broke through.   
“Emma, I know you’re hurt.”   
“You don’t… You don’t know… They put the fire in me. They set my head on fire.”  
“I-I know,” he stammered, clearing his throat and putting out a hand, “and I know it… it hurts like a son of a bitch, but I can help. _We_ can help. You know us, Emma. You know you do. Me and Steve, Natasha and Wanda. And Bucky.”

Emma’s eyes widened and she turned around. She looked like she might cry as her lips parted, releasing a small croak.   
“Bucky’s waiting for you, Emma. Right over there, look. You can go home with him… We can fix you up and make the pain go away. Stop the fire.”

Emma took one look at Bucky and curled up, with her hands on her head. She screamed with such pain in her lungs that Tony felt it push tears into his eyes.   
“I can’t, I can’t, I can’t. They won’t let me. I can’t go back. I can’t be… I can’t be home. There is none. No home. Playing house… playing house…”

“You don’t have to come home!” Tony said hurriedly, silencing Thorn for a moment. “Just… come to Bucky. Come to the jet. One step at a time. Little steps. You can do that, right?”

He took a risk and held out a hand to her. A scared little girl looked back up at him. Thorn then began to tentatively unravel herself, meeting Tony’s hand with her own. She was still crouched slightly but willing to loosen up in order to reach him. Her fingers brushed his when a shot rang out and hit the soil beneath her feet.

Thorn leapt back and Tony slammed the mask of his suit downwards. He whirled around in time to see the bodyguard holstering a gun. Dammit Steve, hurry up, thought Tony.

However, more pressing matters took priority when the newly frightened Thorn pulled out a gun and began firing at him. The bullets ricocheted off the suit with ease but it didn’t stop him taking a step back. He held up his hands and tried to reassure her – to no avail. Thorn sobbed and water streamed from her empty eyes as she continued to empty her gun. Tony decided to step away and reconvene. He could try again when Natasha and Steve were in position.

That was when he was caught completely by surprise.

Stepping backwards but by bit, he’d put a good distance – at least a meter – between him and Thorn when someone ran between them. The man was thin and frail, but fast as if his haggard appearance hadn’t diminished his strength. A mop of dark hair sat atop his head.

Bruce Banner stood between Autumn Thorn and Iron Man. He held out his hands in an open gesture but did nothing for the moment. If Tony had been anxious before, now he was terrified. Best case scenario? Bruce is able to talk to Thorn for a moment. Worst case scenario? Thorn goes ape again and draws out the Hulk. That would open up a whole new can of worms.

“It’s me, Thorn,” Bruce said quietly. She didn’t seem to react at first so he tried again. Tony was stepping away slowly. “It’s me, Bruce. You remember me, right? That crazy ol’ bastard in the ice cave.”

Thorn took aim with her pistol, and Tony made ready to fly, but she didn’t shoot. The situation was balanced on a razor’s edge.   
“You… You don’t know.”   
“Oh, but I do,” Bruce hummed. “I know incredibly well. I’ve got a voice inside my head. A big green guy who won’t go away. He tells me what to do – things I know aren’t right – and he won’t be quiet. He’s loud and sometimes he deafens me. Sometimes I can’t tell between my own thoughts and his. I’ve tried to get rid of him, but I can’t. I tried getting rid of myself, but I can’t. I tried to take myself away and remove the both of us, or pretend that it wasn’t happening, but you can’t.”

“You can’t…?”  
“No, Thorn. You can’t. Not on your own. I told you once that I thought I’d done the right thing, but I can see now how wrong I was. I’d taken myself away, somewhere that I could do no harm, and I just became… nothing. Isn’t it better to be a broken and loved, than whole but hollow?”

Thorn’s jaw wavered, and so did her aim. She was still crumbled on the floor but she was wavering now. Thinking. A little bit of the Emma that Tony recognised flickered in her eyes.   
“It hurts,” she whispered. Bruce smiled sadly.   
“I know. Believe me, I know. But it doesn’t have to.”

Thorn put her hands on the floor and shakily began to get to her feet. Tony watched with his breath caught in his throat. He wondered why the bodyguard hadn’t shot at Bruce like he had done before. Did they realise that bringing out the Hulk would be too much of a risk or-?

The sound of Steve’s shield rung out like a tolling bell.

Everything in Thorn’s head snapped. She pulled up her gun again and cried like a wounded animal:  
“I don’t want to be numb again!”

The shot rang out among the empty valley. It cracked and echoed, until it was disrupted by the sound of a body hitting the floor. A body? Tony thought. Oh God, please, not Bruce…

But of course it hadn’t been Bruce.

Thorn’s body lay on the floor – and a gentle line of smoke rose from the pistol that Steve had given Bucky.

Tears glistened in his eyes, and he took a shaky breath before lowering the gun. Tony abandoned Bruce, who had been crouching on the floor with his hands on his head, and slowly approached Bucky, taking the gun from his hands and tossing it away. Natasha arrived on the rooftop far too late. She placed a hand over her mouth before seeing Steve still battling the bodyguard. In one swift shot by the sniper, the body slumped to the ground.

Steve made to move on Ava May but when he lifted the shield, he froze. In that moment, she slipped away down the fire escape.

Bucky’s legs were sluggish and heavy. He trudged past Bruce and Iron Man; they might have been saying things but he wasn’t listening. He couldn’t hear anything except the beating of his own heart and the echoing of his footsteps.

Kneeling by her side, he expected to cry. He expected to weep and sob but now, seeing her at peace, he felt… sick. Like this never should have happened. Like he could’ve stopped this.

Bruce crawled over and sat by him, staring in disbelief at the body.   
“You shot her…”  
“She was going to attack you.”  
“But you shot her.”

Bucky ground his jaw.   
“She’d been… sick for a long time. I don’t think she’d have gotten better again. Not after what they did to her. This just showed me what I needed to see, what she would’ve become.”  
“You blame yourself.”  
“If she’d never met me, she’d have been absolutely fine.”

Bruce sighed.   
“I don’t know about that. SHIELD fell. She’d have been forced to change somehow.”  
“But not like this. Not this much. The things she went through. There’s no healing some scars… and she’s at peace now. It might’ve worked, bringing her home, but she’d be living life on a razor’s edge. All it would take is the sound of a chiming bell or a gunshot and she’d lose herself again.”

“That’s why you came,” Tony sighed, having arrived in time to hear. “You knew we wouldn’t win this fight. You wanted to be the one to do it.”   
“I loved her. It’s time I let her go.”

Thorn’s body was lifted to the quinjet just as the authorities arrived. Some of the returning civilians applauded the Avengers’ efforts – but they didn’t understand. They couldn’t. They were applauding the death of someone they thought was a villain; a threat that had been subdued. However, the Avengers were in mourning. They ignored the sounds of booing and hissing, which the few civilians who could see the body were doing.

Everyone sustained a stoic face and as soon as the team was on board, they were away. Into the heavens.


	13. Chapter 13

The future seemed bleak. There was little hope left alive for the remaining Avengers. The world was dark and cold.

There was a service held, of course. A large pyre was lit in the paved area out in front of the base. It was tall and grand and the silhouette of the bodies lying on top could be seen, engorged in flame. Thorn’s brother had been collected too, so that he could be cremated at the same time. Next to him, lay Emma. Peaceful. Sleeping within the flames. One by one the Avengers made peace with the loss and turned away.

Tony turned first, leaving to find a drink of some kind. He’d only just gotten to know her and she was gone. Just like that. Perhaps he would look at installing that drinks machine on the quinjet like he’d thought about many a times… Something to take his mind off of the loss.

Natasha’s face had remained stoic for the entire service. She watched the flames like it was stoking her own fire. She would use this experience for many years to come, no doubt.

Sam, who had been away for a while, returned to pay his respects. Maria Hill stood behind him. They left together.

Bruce disappeared not long afterwards, and wouldn’t be seen again by anyone else. He’d explained that after being discovered by Tony and Emma, he’d moved on to a new location where he’d seen Thorn on the news. Sensing what might have happened, he’d rushed to help. No doubt he would be thinking of somewhere else to escape to as he left thinking that the failure was his fault.

Steve wiped away a tear and bowed his head, but was unable to leave. Not whilst Bucky was still watching.

And Bucky watched for a very, very long time. He was still unable to process what had happened, what he’d done. Had it been the right decision? He didn’t know. He wasn’t sure he ever would. Bucky’s words had failed him shortly after Thorn’s death. He spoke to nobody, not even to Steve. As the ash swum into the air and blended with the stars, Bucky turned away and stepped indoors. His friend silently followed him, wondering what thoughts were going through his head.

* * *

Ava May huddled inside a boathouse cupboard. It was dark, damp, and cold. She felt like her throat was growing moss she’d been cooped up there so long. In the distance she could hear a quiet dripping sound, and quickly began to understand how that might drive somebody mad.

All too suddenly, the room was flooded with light and dust particulates spun in spirals. Wide-eyed and fearful, May looked up and her muscles shook.

The Iron Man suit had peeled off the top of the cupboard entirely. She gazed at the metallic face which stared at her, wondering what the robot would do. The mask slid up and revealed the man within. His eyes were watery and his jaw shook.   
“You killed her,” he said. “She’s dead because of you.”

Ava wanted to cry. She let tears stream silently down her cheeks, knowing nothing that she could say would make a difference Even her year’s training in the Red Room hadn’t prepared her for this. Her mouth was clamped shut with fright. The Iron Man’s hand lifted up and aimed a frightening light at her – until somebody intervened.   
“Tony!” A shield pushed its way into view and a blonde man appeared next to the Iron Man. He looked her up and down, and his jaw moved too. He was gritting his teeth.

“She’s just a kid,” he growled. “She’s… still just a kid.”

Bucky saw her. Ava May, being led down the corridor. Her eyes were puffy and silver streaks decorated her face, but he didn’t care. She didn’t get to be sad. Not now. 

That night the nightmares returned to him, worse than ever. Bucky awoke screaming and sweating, his hands ripping at mattress and pillow where Emma might’ve slept. By the time help arrived, he was curled in a ball in the centre of the mattress, sobbing.

This continued on and off for many, many nights.   
“We have to do something,” said Natasha. “He’s getting worse.”  
“It can’t be helped. He’s been through hell and back. That’s not something you forget overnight,” said Steve.   
“I agree but… we can’t let this go on. He’s going to hurt himself him at one point or another.”

Steve and Natasha paused, looking at their current company for support. Tony was gazing off into the distance over a coffee mug. Though he didn’t act like it, he hadn’t been the same since Emma’s death. It seemed the two were on their own.   
“What do you suggest?” Steve sighed.   
“I have one idea but you’re not going to like it.”

* * *

“Hey, Buck?” Steve smiled sadly. Bucky looked very grey. He sat at the end of his bed, staring at a blank wall with a glass of water shaking in his hand. When Steve spoke, he turned at looked at him with sunken eyes. If his demeanour hadn’t given away that Bucky was not himself, his thin, unshaven face would have.

“Can we have a minute?” Steve asked. “Wanda wants to say hello.”

It was quick and painless. In the blink of an eye, Bucky was sent into a dreamlike manner, Wanda’s hands either side of his head, painting a picture on his temples. Red flowed into his mind and swum amongst his memories, dying them the colour of oblivion. Everything was crimson. And when everything is one, it is nothing.

Memories were changed, distorted, erased. Autumn Thorn had never rescued Bucky from HYDRA. He’d remained under their control, and had his memories wiped. He fought Steve in the belly of the helicarrier, not Emma. He rescued Steve from the river, not Emma. He discovered his identity shortly after at an exhibit in the Smithsonian… and then?

Wanda waited. She had no instruction after this point. She’d removed the memories of Emma and their life together – their engagement, their apartment, and everything in between – but what to fill it with? She had no more webs to spin. No more stories to tell.   
“Leave it there,” Steve murmured. “Send him somewhere remote. Give him a fresh start.”   
“Steve…”  
“Do it. We’ll know where to find him, at least, if something goes wrong.”

And so it was. Bucky Barnes remembered running away. Hiding in Bucharest where he could live without his past catching up with him. He visited the market, bought plums, hid his face under a cap. Whatever it took for him to regain anonymity. Nobody more would die at the hand of the Winter Soldier, because he’d forgotten the last person who had…

Wanda and Steve carried an unconscious Bucky from the room and took him to where Natasha waited. Tony paid for everything – food, clothes, and an apartment for Bucky to live in. They left him there knowing he would be safe and free, as he would’ve wanted for her.

It took a lot of work but eventually everybody had adjusted to the idea. There was a silent agreement between the group to pretend that this new reality was real. They forced themselves to believe it, until the denial became immense. They knew the name in their gut, but they refused to believe she was real. if she had been real, that would make the pain real too.

Every memory of Autumn Thorn had died with her. And so it was…


End file.
